A magical Twist
by Spectacled Man
Summary: Harry turns his back on Wizarding world after they target Teddy and moves to Forks with his godson. His life is peaceful until one Isabella Swan moves to Forks and attracts the attention of the local vampires. Just why can't he have a peaceful life. Master of Death Harry. SLASH.
1. Prologue

A/N: Massive **AU for Harry Potter**.

You'll get to know Harry's back-story as the story progresses. And Harry will be sort of** Darkish. Not evil** but very unforgiving and merciless.

Also he'll be powerful, Very powerful. Master of Death Harry!

Will be mostly canon for Twilight. But can't say more than that.

And** SLASH**. Yes it'll be Slash. No doubt about that, not even a single one.

Also, my story is inspired by a story of CompYES but will be drastically different than hers. I have asked her permission and she has allowed me to use them. So no flames about that.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Twilight. No money is being made out of this fic.

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He needed to get away; just had to go, far far away; away, not from any one in particular but away from everyone and from everything.

He couldn't bear this place, couldn't stand this place, such was the suffocation that his homeland subjugated him to. Such were the callus people that were his countrymen.

He especially needed to go away now, now that they had tried to target Teddy, his little godson of all people. They had tried to declare his godson a monster, had tried to get the little child captured to _'study'_ for a cure of lycanthropy.

But what they had not known, was that by doing so, they had awakened a monster.

For all their planning's and manipulation; for all their lies, they still had not succeeded. After all, he was Harry-bloody-Potter and his name carried weight; it opened the doors and loosened the lips. And it did much more.

As such, he had known their trickery, their lies and had blocked them before they could do much harm. He had stopped their malicious plans but that was not all he did. If he had been the perfect little pawn for the _'Light'_, a hero in shining armor –as the old coot of a manipulator had wanted him to be- he might have done just that and then let it be.

But as the situation was, he was not a spineless pawn of Albus-fucking-old-coot-Dumbledore; instead, he was the most skilled Wizard out of Hogwarts in 3 generations. He was the murderer of Voldemort, the Man-who-Won. He was The Butcher.

As such he had done much more than simply nullifying the plans of his enemies. He had nullified his enemies themselves; the ones who had dared target his precious godson. Bodies of many were still to be found, not that there was anything left, once he was finished with them.

But that had not been enough. The damage had already been done.

Wizards and Witches whispered the name of his godson as they gossiped. They made tales about his godson and none of those rabid things pretty or nice. Teddy had garnered attention, unwanted and undesirable attention. And it was not something that he had wanted or needed.

As such, he had left. He had packed his bags, bribed the goblins and left.

None would know where he and his godson were, where they had vanished to, except the goblins that is. And they would dare not open their fanged mouths. He had bribed them enough for that. And in case his location was leaked, blood will be shed; goblin and human alike.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Forks -the tiny little town that it was- was abuzz with chatter. And with gossip. And why wouldn't it be? After all, it was not every day that someone moved in the rainy little settlement. Rainy, as it was an area that received rainfall 90% time of the year; as such, one could understand just why no one would want to move to Forks of all places.

And now, within a time-span of one year, two families had moved to the somewhat-decrepit town. It was nothing short of miracle and the most exciting thing to happen in the town since the scandal of principal sleeping with one of the teachers, back in '96 .

As such, the movement of Cullens and the Blacks did not go unnoticed by the nosy little people; if anything else, both were watched with the hawk eyes.

And all their efforts, paid off. Both the families provided much food for gossip and rumors, for they were both very unique in their own ways.

Carlisle Cullen, the head of the Cullen Family, was a very respectable surgeon, one that the town was too lucky to have. And even though the townspeople could not afford to say anything about the family, lest they offend the nice family and drive the surgeon away, the merry people of the town gossiped like teenage girls. After all, the doctor's family was a little weird, what with all the adoptions and rumors about incestuous relations.

Hadrian Black and his family, on the other hand, were as normal as they came for a single parent family, except for his name that is. He was a cook and had opened his own diner in the town, giving the townspeople something new to visit to. Even though, according to the townspeople of Forks, Harry was too young to have a son, there was not much gossip in that little tidbit.

The excitement when the diner -_Harry's_\- first opened, had been tremendous. Townspeople visited it, like it was a new trend to eat at the diner and then later brag about it to their friends, that just how good their food was. And why wouldn't it be a new trend? After all, it was a break from their monotonous routine of familiar places. It was something new, something unexplored, something exciting. The diner had been first store to open in the town since the McCarty's paint shop in 80's and that was not much of an excitement, now was it?

After the opening rush, the good townspeople of Forks visited Harry's just to eat there again, such was their food and the ladies visited to try their chance on the cook, after all, he was rather easy on their eyes.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

When Hadrian 'Harry' Black -or better known as Harry Potter in the magical world- had decided to leave his homeland, his England, he had not known what to do, how to get a job, how to explain his income. After all, he did not have a respectable background in muggle academia, as such, he could only afford low paying jobs; jobs he hated after slaving under Dursleys.

As such, after much contemplation and with an advice from Luna, he had decided to open a diner. After all, he had cooked for Dursleys _'to earn his keep'_ as they had put it and those fat pigs glutted only tasty things down their throats. That, and Harry liked cooking.

As such, when Harry –and Cullens- had moved into the little town of Forks in the year '03, the wizard had opened his diner as the source of his income, though he had no idea that his food would become this popular. Even though it was not a reason for his success but having a house elf did help him.

Harry, when he had moved to Forks, had wanted a place away from prying eyes but still close enough to town that he wouldn't become a pariah, Teddy needed friends to play with after all.

As such, the place that he had bought was situated near the house of town's police chief. It was distant away from the main residential area but was not too far away. And being near the police chief's house had its own perks. Local thugs stayed away from the area and it lulled the townspeople into a false sense of security. After all, if there was something wrong about the Blacks, wouldn't they want to be as far away from police chief as possible?

Also, in addition to the above point, the house that Harry had bought was quiet close to the forest, which was a plus point in Harry's book. There were some spices (and potion ingredients) that were not readily available in Forks(and he did not fancy going to Seattle often), as such, he planned on growing a garden in his backyard because from his experience, little children fell, bruised and cut themselves every now and then.

Now, even though, the two families had moved to the town together, they had yet to meet each other. After all, Cullens did not venture out into the town much, and therefore never came anywhere near Harry's. And Harry treated whatever ailments that Teddy acquired from time to time through potions, hence he never ventured into the hospital.

As such, everything was going nicely for Blacks. Their diner was a hit in the town and was earning them a nice profit. After all, if you can do most of the things magically and do not have to spend money for gas and other such muggle needs, you saved quiet a lot. Also having a house elf help you in the kitchen saved quiet some time. Thus his service was fast and tasty.

Little Teddy also helped in the diner whenever he could and in whatever way he could. During slow hours he sometimes waited on the tables or acted as cashier. Being adorable as he was, people loved little Teddy's service

As such, life was good for Blacks, until chief Swan's daughter moved into the town that is.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

It had been 2 years, two years since they had moved into the town and two years of peaceful bliss. It was something that harry had not enjoyed in a very, very long time.

Over the course of these two years, Harry had had problems, but the most difficult of them had been the attack of slugs on his garden and greenhouse, which he had swiftly taken care of.

As the years had passed, Harry had needed to expand his garden and separate magical and muggle plants because in those two years, he and Teddy had made friends, friends that visited and liked to see his garden.

As such, Harry had turned the garden in his backyard as a purely muggle garden and had built a green house on the roof. Though this green house was heavily warded, any man looking at it will see it as a normal sloped roof. And it was in this greenhouse that he had his magical herbs and plants.

Also it was this greenhouse of his that caused him some huge problems when the Swan girl moved in her father's house. It seemed that his wards did not work on this girl, because for some reason, she could see his greenhouse, when she clearly shouldn't have.

But luckily for Harry, he had been out and about when the girl was being welcomed home and he saw her eyeing his roof as if it was most abnormal thing that she had ever seen.

Harry had cursed inwardly and checked his wards, just to be sure that they had not failed, but had found them working perfectly. And then his interest had peaked in this girl, the girl that was somehow immune to his wards.

And Harry, being curious as a cat, had approached the group which consisted of Chief Swan, his daughter, Billy and a teenage boy that was most probably Billy's son.

He smiled brilliantly at the group, "Chief Swan!" He called cheerily. "Is this your daughter that everyone's been talking 'bout?" He asked and noticed the girl grimacing at the idea.

"Yeah." The police chief nodded as he answered. "She is." Well, if Harry hadn't previously known that Charlie Swan was man of few words, he would have definitely known now.

Harry laughed lightly at the awkwardness between the father and the daughter. But, he supposed, that it must have seemed rather odd to the group as they all eyed him as if he was mad. Harry laughed again and planted a compulsion on the girl to not talk about his greenhouse as he went back to his house.

But before he left, he said, "She's pretty, this one." Stroking the protectiveness that resided in every father; things had been quiet boring for him lately, and as such he kept poking Chief Swan from time to time. "Not after you then, Eh! Chief." He said as he laughed again and began walking back to his house.

The girl colored at his comment and Billy laughed at his teasing, while Charlie and Jacob –he now remembered Billy's son- scowled at him. "You watch your tongue Black!" Charlie replied heavily as he scowled. "Or you might just end up behind bars, sooner than you'd like."

"Nah!" Harry answered as he kept on walking carelessly, "Who'd feed you then?" He asked and continued laughing. Charlie just scowled at him again.

Billy too laughed at his comment while the girl looked at her father inquiringly. "Idiot!" Charlie snapped at Harry as he went back inside, causing Billy to laugh again.

"Come now Charlie!" Billy said once he finished laughing, "He's just teasing you."

Charlie said nothing as he scowled and started ushering everyone inside.

Billy rolled his eyes and turned to Bella, "That was Harry." The Quileute man answered. "He owns the diner that feeds your Dad." Billy heard some grumbling from Charlie but rolled his eyes and ignored the man. "And he likes to poke your old man every now and then."

Bella raised her eyebrow at that, proving that she was really Charlie's daughter and was a girl of few words.

"He's odd." Jacob unhelpfully supplied as the teen scowled.

Billy frowned at his son and answered, "Maybe a little odd" He confirmed as he nodded. "But you won't get food tasting better than his, anywhere in entire Washington."

Bella raised an eyebrow but said nothing and followed the men inside.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Laughing, Harry entered his house and saw his little 5 year old godson –still dressed in his pajamas- standing before him, with his hands crossed. His cheeks were little puffed as he tried to look grumpy.

Teddy looked real cute at the moment, and if it was possible, Harry would have rolled his godson in bread and ate him up; his godson was so cute, especially when he tried to act all grown up. Harry restrained himself from laughing at his almost son's antics.

"Did you really have to do that?" Teddy asked in his high pitched child's voice.

"What?" Harry asked innocently as he raised an eyebrow elegantly.

Teddy gave his father figure an unimpressed look and Harry burst out laughing.

"Da!" Teddy exclaimed as his adoptive father laughed.

"W-what?" Harry answered as he tried to control his laughter. Teddy scowled at his father unimpressed. And Harry just ruffled the child's chair as he answered. "You are too cute when you try to act grown up." Harry said as Teddy scowled again.

"I am not cute." Teddy exclaimed crossly. According to him, boys were not supposed to be cute. That was for girls and girls had cooties.

Harry burst out laughing again at his son's antics while Teddy scowled and puffed up his cheeks to show his displeasure.

"What? I couldn't help myself!" He exclaimed lamely and Teddy sighed. His Da was so weird.

"Did you look at his face Teddy?" Harry asked his adoptive son as he laughed remembering Charlie's expression. "He looked ready to burst."

Teddy giggled but then remembered that he was angry at his Da and stopped and puffed up his cheeks again.

"Are you mad at me kiddo?" Harry asked ominously as he saw Teddy stop giggling and began puffing his cheeks.

Harry arched his eyebrow at his son and grinned maniacally. Teddy saw his father's expression and leapt out of his chair. "Da no!" He exclaimed as Harry began to move towards him. "No Da!" He exclaimed again and ran as Harry followed him laughing.

"Who's angry at his Da?" Harry asked laughing as he followed his son at a sedate pace, allowing the child to run across the house.

"Not me." Teddy giggled from somewhere.

"But I remember you puffing your cheeks." Harry said in a singsong as he headed towards Teddy.

"No." Teddy shook his head vigorously as he tried to hide behind the bed. "No Da. I was just trying to see how much air I can fill in my mouth. Really. I swear."

"Oh really?" Harry asked skeptically as he ran and in a flash was behind Teddy. The many rituals that he had performed on himself gave him incredible speed.

He scooped teddy up in his arms and jumped on the bed and Teddy tried to not giggle. "Really Da. Really."

"But I remember someone scowling at me." Harry answered and began tickling his son.

Teddy laughed and squirmed and tried to get away but Harry scooped him again and pinned the kid in his lap as he tickled the child mercilessly.

"Ah Da. Stop." Teddy said in between giggling, squirming and laughing. "P-please Stop."

And Harry did stop. "That will teach you to not to be angry at your Da." Harry said to his son and ruffled the child's hair.

"But Daaaa.." Teddy whined.

Harry looked at him. "Do you want a second round?" He asked his son ominously.

Teddy immediately shook his head vigorously and Harry laughed. "That's my boy!" He exclaimed and kissed his son's forehead. "Now go and get ready for school."

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Important**: Those who review, get a **sneak peak** in the next chapter. So...

Love it?

Hate it?

Just review and let me know.

Also, I **need a beta reader**.


	2. Arc: Vampires Part 1

A/N: I am looking for a beta...

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The rest of the day passed with little of interest happening for Harry. Since, today was one of those days when sun decided to grace Forks with its presence; as such the temperature was little on the high side. Hence Harry dressed teddy lightly, a causal shirt and jeans as he readied the kid for school, while he simply wore a sleeveless shirt and jeans.

After checking Teddy's glamour ring –something he did daily, being paranoid as he was- Harry let the kid go to school on his bicycle.

The morning rush was not all that much of a rush, as few people ate out in the morning in Forks. In the afternoon though, the townspeople rushed towards his diner, either because they were too lazy to cook or because they couldn't cook to save their lives or to simply eat at his place. But mostly, it was time for office goers to come during their lunch breaks. As such, 12 to 3 pm was a heavy shift, this he had learnt soon after opening the diner and hence he had to hire a waitress.

After the afternoon passed and evening came, and with it came the time for Local teens to arrive at his diner. These teens mostly hanged out at his place, relaxing; they ordered little, mostly drinks and such. And Harry let the teens be; after all, these teens would soon grow up and would become his loyal customers, relating their childhood with his diner; sure it was a long time investment but if Harry had any say in it, then he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. With that in mind, he entertained the teens.

It was during this time that a teen entered that made Harry groan internally. The teen had russet skin black hair and deep brown eyes just like any other member of Quileute tribe. But unlike them, this teen always had a big grin plastered across his face, showing his beautiful white teeth, and unlike other members of the tribe, his eyes always seemed to have an inner depth.

Said teen walked up the counter and smiled brightly at Harry. "Hiya Harry!" The teen announced jovially.

Harry smiled back at the teen. "Hello Seth!" He replied. "Waiting for your gang?" He asked.

The teen, Seth, smiled again causing Harry to think just how someone can smile so much. "Yeah!" The teen replied enthusiastically. "We always meet here."

"I know." Harry replied as he smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Yours is the loudest bunch in here."

"Hey!" The teen replied in mock indignation. "We so are not!"

"Oh really?" Harry said as he put both his hands on the counter and leaned on them, causing his muscles to flex and decreasing the distance between him and the teen. "I remember just last night your group making a big ruckus."

Harry did not receive an answer as the said teen was staring openly at the arms. Remembering about the teen's crush on him, Harry straightened himself and asked, "The usual order?" His comment snapping the teen out of his daze.

"Y-yeah." The teen confirmed somewhat lamely as he recovered. Harry shook his head; it was this stupid crush that was the cause of groan that Harry mentally let out every time Seth came in. The teen was not exactly subtle in his ogling and Harry feared for the kid sake because as small as Forks and La Push were, he didn't think that the people would be tolerant of teen's sexuality.

It was for the same reason he had told no one about his own sexuality. He had wanted a normal childhood for Teddy, not one where he was jeered at because who his father was. If he had wanted that, then he would have remained in Britain.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

The rest of the day had passed quietly for Harry, except for that one incident with Seth. But such incidents with Seth were now almost a norm by now; the teen seriously lacked some well needed subtlety.

He had returned from his Diner with Teddy, the kid having returned from his school to diner on his bicycle. And Harry sure had fun teaching the kid how to ride a bike.

That night and the next day passed similarly, i.e. without much happening. But all this boredom came to an end the next night, as it was this night that he got a warning from his wards for the first time in 2 years.

Harry was sleeping at the time the warning came, as it was well after 12 and he had to send Teddy to school in the morning.

The buzzing of the wards woke him up, causing him to be alert like a cat as a result of his training with Moody. The man's shout of 'Constant Vigilance' still resounded in his ears.

Harry listened to what his wards were telling him and leapt out of his bed. He opened his trunk and grabbed his broom as he realized that the undead –inferni he guessed- was at present approaching him at a very fast speed, which was weird because inferni were very slow.

Now, Harry had many layers of wards around his home, each layer of different diameter and having different effects. The outermost layer extended a mile in each direction from his house and was just a mild alert ward and it was active only if either Harry or Teddy or both were present in the area.

The second layer extended 200 meters out of his home in every direction and was an in depth alert ward that was always active and would reach him anywhere. He had knowingly not made this layer dangerous in case, whatever it was, was not meant for him. After all, he was not responsible for the safety of everyone around him.

The third layer, though, was dangerous. It stretched 1 meter out of his home in a circle and had an intention ward that was the trigger for many of the other very dangerous and fatal wards. It also contained many standard wards like fire repellant, pest repellant and other such wards.

Harry picked up his invisibility cloak and wore it. The cloak had changed its shape after he had collected all the hallows. While earlier it had been spread like a sheet, it now resembled a proper cloak. That done, he casted disillusionment charm on his broom.

Flying out of his window he sped towards the perpetrator. At that moment, the deliquescent crossed the second layer and immediately his wards buzzed in, telling him that the intruder was a Vampire of all things.

Knowing the speed and strength of the Vampires, Harry cursed mentally and immediately activated all the rituals that he had performed on himself, setting them for maximum performance. But knowing that it was not enough, he reached to one of his animagus forms -the one that was the evolved form of his first animagus- and accepted the magic of the mythical beast.

Immediately he felt the magic of the beast flooding his body, as it saturated his muscles, possessed his bones and ran through his blood. He felt the power of his animagus form enhancing his ritual enhanced abilities and limits. With that, also came the mind of his animagus, the mind of the feral beast Nundu merged with his brain, turning him merciless and ferocious.

Now, what Harry had just done, was what Harry considered activating the third stage. To understand this, one needs to know that Harry considered that he possessed way too much power and he did not want it all active all the time. As such he had divided his power in four stages.

The First stage was Harry's natural power, i.e. the power he was born with. It also included activation of some of the rituals that Harry had performed on himself. Now, this was a powerful stage, as Harry was born with large amount of magic and was very skilled in using that magic. That, plus some of the rituals, made Harry powerful enough to deal with any death eater one on one.

The second stage included activation of all the rituals that he had performed on himself over the years. That resulted in a very fast Harry, though his magical capacity didn't increase much; as the rituals that increased magical capacity were too gruesome for Harry to perform. In this stage, Harry could handle half a dozen death-eaters and manage to win, though it would be hard fought battle.

The third stage included activating his rituals in addition to accepting the power of any of his two animagus forms. And not just any animagus form, he needed to accept the magic of the animagus forms that he had acquired after performing a forbidden ritual. It was a ritual that used the present animagus form of the wizard as a bridge to search for a magical form for the wizard.

It had been a ritual that was not to be taken lightly because even though the magical forms had been revealed, wizard could still lose his mind in this ritual. And it was so, because to achieve a magical animagus form, one had to accept the magic and mind of the magical creature, which was a next to impossible task.

Minds and Magic of magical creatures were not something that could be compared to humans. Many had lost their minds and had completely turned into their magical creature after the creature had overcome and destroyed the mind of wizard, annihilating the wizard's magic and killing the wizard for all purposes.

And Harry had two normal animagus forms, a side effect of magic choosing him as his champion when it created the prophecy.

As such, Harry had tried to search for magical transforms for both of his normal forms and had succeeded. It had been a hard fought battle but his occlumency had helped. Harry was sure that if not for his occlumency, he would have lost himself to the minds of the magical beasts because both his forms were immensely powerful creatures, capable of mass destruction.

Accepting the minds and magic of such creatures had not been easy, the creatures had not wanted to give up. But Harry was nothing if not stubborn and had fought and cajoled them until they had acceded.

As such in his Third stage Harry accepted the mind and magic of anyone of those magical creatures. As a result, Harry turned much more ferocious and much more powerful. Not only did his speed and other such factors increased in this stage but also his magical capacity.

But it all came at a cost and the cost was merger of his personality to that of the creature. As a result, in this stage, Harry was much more feral, almost animalistic in his action and decisions. He cared little for his enemy's life and death and rarely took prisoners; all he rendered on his enemies was death.

Harry had defeated Dumbledore in this stage and had killed those who had tried to attack Teddy.

After the third stage, came the fourth and the final stage. In this stage, besides the activation of all his rituals, Harry accepted the minds and magic of both his magical animagus forms. As a result, his magical capacity skyrocketed and so did his capabilities and his limits. His speed and strength rivaled that of a vampire but the price also was similar.

If in the third stage, Harry had been animalistic, then in fourth stage he turned into an animal (metaphorically of course). He lost all his inhibitions and his aversion to killing and destroyed everything that stood in his way. After all, in this stage he had merged with the minds of two feral beasts. There was very little of Harry that remained in him, in this stage. Harry in this stage was not Harry but he was someone else, or better to say something else. This something was the unstoppable power of destruction that Harry called, The Butcher.

Harry had battled and murdered Voldemort in this stage. After he had been done with the abomination, there was not much left of the man.

After that incident, Harry had never activated stage four. The carnage that the Butcher had left behind had been too much to deal with.

Now, if someone still wanted to argue that why hadn't Harry kept all this power activated all the time? Well, the answer to that question was simple. Harry did not activate the stage three all the time because he did not like losing himself when he merged with the mind of his animagus form.

And as for activating stage two all the time, well, to him it seemed like an overkill; i.e. stage two was not always needed then why the show off. As such Harry remained mostly in stage one, activating few rituals like the one to sharpen his eyesight and his hearing and such.

Thus now that Hadrian had activated the second stage, he could clearly see the vampire running towards him like there was no tomorrow. Harry analyzed the creature a bit and realized from what he had seen in the minds of the teenage girls that the man fit into the perfect description of Edward Cullen.

Quickly, Harry cast a charm on himself that made it seem like his voice was coming from everywhere.

"What do you want vampire?" Harry asked with his voice grave. He hadn't used a sonorous spell as he knew that the vampire could hear him perfectly.

The vampire stopped in his tracks, a clear indication that he had heard Harry. The creature turned his head around, looking for the source of the voice but found none. It was for this reason that Harry had used his broom. His charm would confuse the vampire and as he was up in the air, his scent would not reach the creature. Thus his location would be safe.

But all his efforts to hide his location were for naught as Edward closed his eyes and began concentrating. Edward being a mind reader –not that Harry knew that- was searching for the mind of the one that had called to him. He had, after all, not expected anyone to see or hear him, let alone recognize him.

Edward had recognized the decidedly British accent and his overactive mind immediately came up with the only person who was British in Forks. Black. Harry Black.

As such, he began searching for the mind of the person that had called to him but to his amazement he found nothing. There was no mind, no voice; it was Isabella swan all over again. But before accepting defeat, Edward decided to search once last time again and this time, he found something.

Unlike when he had been searching for Isabella's mind and had found nothing, this time when he searched for this newcomer, he found something. Not exactly a mind but a sort of walled spherical space, which seemed to be protecting something.

Finding his target, Edward was amazed that his target was up in the air and he turned to look at the newcomer but he frowned when he saw nothing. He concentrated again and his eyes widened as he saw a shimmer of the disillusionment charm –not that Edward knew that it was a charm- and he jumped to get a closer look.

Harry saw the vampire turn to look at him after concentrating and then frown before his eye widened and knew that he had been spotted and as such Harry changed his position immediately. But the vampire was fast and jumped to reach him. Angry at vampire's attack –after all, to any sane human, a vampire jumping towards them was an attack- Harry brandished his wand and cast a fire spell at the attacking creature.

Edward saw the shimmer move but it was already too late for him to change his direction and as such he landed quickly, just to jump again and capture the flying newcomer but before he could jump again, he heard something and his eye widened as saw a wave of fire rush towards him. Edward jumped and leapt out of the fire's way.

"I asked, what do you want Vampire?" Edward heard a voice growl and for the first time during the night, he began using his brain. As such, he stopped in his tracks but kept a wary eye on anything that moved and on the shimmer that was in the sky.

"What are you?" Edward asked in fascination and in a fit of stupidity. He knew that no human could fly silently or turn invisible or throw fire or was fast enough to dodge him.

For his words Edward received another wave of fire rushing towards him. Edward dodged and raised his hands in surrender.

"Answer my question if you do not want to burn." The voice again growled. This time it sounded even more animalistic than before.

"I wish you or any other human no harm." Edward replied, regaining activity in his brain. "My family and I are vegetarians. We do not feed on human blood."

Edward heard a scoff before the voice spoke, "You wish me to believe that." The voice growled and again threw a wave of fire at him. "Speak the truth." The voice commanded.

Edward again dodged and replied. "I do speak truth." Before quickly adding, "My family has been living in this town for two years now and not a single human has been harmed during our stay. We feed on animals."

Harry paused and contemplated the vampire's answer and found that there had not been any unexplained disappearances during his stay in Forks. As such, he decided that the vampire was not lying. This also confirmed that the entire family was a coven of Vampires.

Now Harry had to decide how to play this. He could act as if he had not known about Cullens previously –which was the truth- or he could act as if he had known previously that the Cullens were vampires –which was a shameless lie- and had not done anything regarding the matter because they were not bothering him. He decided to go by the latter option rather than the former.

Edwards heard nothing from the voice and sighed, at least the man –whetever he was- was willing to listen to him. "You still haven't answered me Vampire." He heard the voice –which he was quite sure was Harry Black- say.

"I…" Edward paused. Now how would he explain that he was interested in Swan girl without revealing his power and without making it sound like he was stalking her to feed on her?

Edward heard a growl and dodged just on instincts, even though there was no wave of fire this time. Well, better safe than sorry, he mused.

"Vampires have certain powers." Edward finally let out. "And mine doesn't seem to work on the Swan girl." He hastily added, wishing to avoid another wave of fire. "I was curious."

Harry, being skeptical of Vampire's claim, hit the man with a Leglimens spell. The spell being invisible and since it had been cast silently, hit its target, connecting Harry to the Vampire's mind. Though Harry immediately regretted it. Vampires have vast minds, and many things go on simultaneously in their minds. So to Harry it seemed like he had casted the spell on several people at the same time, as multiple thoughts rushed in his own mind.

Controlling himself, Harry analyzed the thoughts and cursed when realized that the vampire knew his identity. Harry also learned of the vampire's ability and the curious exception that was Isabella Swan. Deciding that the Vampire truly did not mean any harm, Harry ended the spell and switched from third stage to second stage but still remained in air, just to be cautious.

"Be gone Edward Cullen." Harry decided to use the name of the vampire to gain an upper hand. "I do not wish you to be here." He finished.

He saw the vampire pause at the use of his name and then the creature contemplated something. "We can talk this out… Harry Black." Harry scowled at the use of his name. "We do not wish you or your family any harm." The vampire offered.

Harry paused. He was, after all, a curious creature. He had reached, where he had reached in his life, because of his curiosity. The Dursleys had tried to beat it out of him but all they had managed was to teach Harry that if he had questions, he should anyone but Dursleys.

And the concept of vegetarian vampires had indeed piqued his curiosity.

"Very well." Harry announced after taking a while to decide, "Come to my house tomorrow at nine in the morning. We'll discuss it then."

The vampire nodded and then again seemed to contemplate something. "Can my family come too?" The creature asked. "They'll love to meet you."

Harry narrowed his eyes and again hit the vampire with a Leglimens spell and even though this time he was prepared for it but the multiple thoughts in the vampire's mind still managed to give him a headache.

Harry analyzed the vampire's intentions and nodded, quickly ending the spell in the process.

"If you wish." Harry answered. "But remember, in my house, you'll be in my domain. One wrong move and you'll burn without me even doing anything." Harry threatened.

Edward nodded and left. He was a vampire and as such was confident in his abilities. He was sure that he could overcome anything that this Harry Black will throw at him tomorrow.

Harry watched the vampire go, but as he was in second stage at the moment, all he saw was a blur. He sighed. What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

As always, those who review get a sneak-peak in the next chapter, So...

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	3. Arc: Vampires Part 2

A/N: As a reviewer asked for all of Harry's stages of power, well here they are:

Stage 1: Harry's natural power + Few rituals (Mostly to boost physical attributes.)

Stage 2: Harry's natural power + All rituals.

Stage 3: Harry's natural power + All rituals + Magic of either one of his enhanced animagus forms.

Stage 4: Harry's natural power + All rituals + Magic of both of his enhanced animagus forms.

* * *

The very first thing that Harry did the next morning, was to call his waitress and tell the girl, that the diner will be opening a little later than usual. And the girl, as usual, did not ask many questions; too happy to have a lie-in a very long time.

With that taken care of, things passed normally for the rest of the morning as Harry readied Teddy for school. After seeing the kid off, Harry began preparations for his meeting with the vampires.

Now, Harry did not want to have stage three activated during the entire conversation, the merging of his mind with that of an animal's, rendered his diplomatic and sweet talking skills more than a little rusty. And as such, one could understand his aversion to activating stage three during the meeting with the vampire coven; after all, this was supposed to be a peaceful meeting.

But just because it was supposed to be a peaceful meeting, did not mean that Harry could turn lax. Moody would have his head even from beyond the Veil, if he did such a stupid thing, of that Harry was sure. As such Harry began preparing a rune bracelet that would burn anything that approached him with malevolent intentions, and if his memory served correctly, then vampires burned rather sweetly.

Hadrian smiled, finding the unintended pun comic.

It took him some time, but he was able to create the bracelet, he was after all, a prodigy; the most skilled wizard to grace the halls of Hogwarts in 3 generation.

The clock seemed to tick slowly as time seemed to stand still; such was Harry's curiosity and his anticipation. But somehow, the time did pass and as the hands of clock turned to 10, Harry's doorbell rang, ending the slow built up of anticipation.

But even for all his curiosity, Harry did not open the door immediately, instead he remained seated and said out loud, "Hello Cullen Coven." He greeted.

"Before I invite your coven in my home, I wish to remind you all once again." He continued, knowing very well that the coven of vampires standing outside his door could perfectly hear every syllable spoken by him. "This house is my domain. The wards protecting it are nothing less than feral and unforgiving. Instead, they are rather swift in their judgment and actions." He announced with his voice low but clear and promising untold things. "It would be a very foolish thing to even think of harming me here." He reminded them, "Remember that when you enter."

With his warning delivered, Harry flicked his now invisible wand and the door opened with a click. "Please, do come in." He invited with a perfectly cheery voice and a happy grin plastered on his face. The complete switch of personality was rather swift and disturbing.

The Cullens entered the house rather carefully, their eyes and their brains working at an unimaginable speed as they analyzed the house and the threat that it might present.

Carlisle's eyes landed on Harry who was sitting on the armchair comfortably and the vampire gave the human an unconcerned smile. If there was one thing that the vampire had learned in his long existence, then it was the ability to remain calm and make decisions with a cool mind in the situations that were unreal and fatal.

The human returned his smile, and greeted, "Please, do sit. There's no need to remain standing."

Carlisle smiled and nodded as the rest of the vampire's began taking seat on by one, though all of them remained alert and ready for action.

When everyone was seated, Harry spoke up. "Edward here told me yesterday, that you are a coven of vampires that do not feed on humans." Harry said he eyed them all, "How very interesting?" He said with his voice full of curiosity.

Though Harry did not know it, but his last statement reminded Carlisle of one of most powerful vampires in existence. He reminded Carlisle of Aro.

Though unnerved at the reminder, Carlisle maintained a calm demeanor and replied, "My son informed you correctly." Carlisle answered and watched in amusement as the human's eyebrow raised itself at his answer. "My family feeds on animal blood."

"Your … son?" The Harry questioned slowly. "And …family?"

Carlisle let his amusement show as he smiled. "Yes." He answered. "My family. Let me introduce you to all of them." Carlisle said as he began introducing his family. He gestured towards Esme and said, "This is my lovely wife Esme. I still do not know what I did to deserve such a magnificent woman." His statement earned him a smile from the vampires and an amazed look from Harry. "She was the second person I turned." He offered the little tidbit.

Carlisle smiled and introduced Edward next. "You have already met Edward. He's was my first child." Carlisle offered again.

He then moved to Rosalie and Emmett. "The lovely woman sitting here is Rosalie. And the man, jovially sitting beside her, is her husband Emmett." Rosalie sniffed at the Harry –who remained undisturbed by her reaction- while Emmett grinned. "Rosalie was my second child and the third person I turned. Soon she found Emmett and he became my third child."

He then turned towards Alice and Jasper. "Our family further expanded when Alice and Jasper joined us." He said as he smiled. "The beautiful brunette is my daughter Alice and the man sitting beside her is my son Jasper." Alice grinned at the introduction and winked while jasper smiled thinly. And again, Harry remained unaffected by Jasper reaction, just like he had been with Rosalie.

With wide eyes, Harry eyed them all. "Amazing…" He whispered still amazed at the level of civism displayed by the vampires.

Carlisle smiled at the reaction and though he knew just why the human was amazed, he still asked, "Just what is amazing. Mr…?"

Harry snapped out of his daze and turned to look at Carlisle. "Ah sorry... Just where are my manners." Harry apologized. "I am Harry Black." He announced and continued, "And what is amazing is … for the lack of a better word, your civism." He said and saw Rosalie, Jasper and Edwards frown simultaneously. "I was led to believe that vampires are rather … savage in nature." He placated the frowning vampires.

"It's understandable." Carlisle replied and then continued, "But we believe that abstaining from human blood lets us keep our humanity."

Carlisle watched as both of the human's eyebrows raised themselves and got lost in his hairline. "Your… humanity?" He questioned disbelievingly. "Why should you be concerned with humanity? You all are vampires, are you not?"

Carlisle's lips pursed at the human's question. This was one topic that had always irked him and that that he had never understood. Just why others can't understand that turning into a vampire did not mean that they had to lose their humanity, their self. "Yes. We are vampires." He replied tersely. "But we appreciate the value of life. Hence, we do not kill humans to satisfy ourselves."

Harry nodded as he frowned, "That's an ideology, I suppose." He commented. "But why do you try to be something that you are not?"

Carlisle raised his eyebrows at the question. It had been quiet sometime since he had last heard that particular question and the last person to ask it had been Aro.

"Being a vampire is a part of who I am now." Carlisle answered as a small frown formed itself on his face. "But it neither dedicates nor defines who I am. I am what I chose to be."

Harry nodded at the response but added mentally. _'Sure, being a vampire is part of you. But have you acknowledged that to yourself? Or did you just ignored and buried it, when you chose your so called humanity.'_

"I guess I should be thankful that you chose your humanity." Harry smiled as he answered the vampire, "We won't be having this conversation otherwise, would we?"

Carlisle smiled as he realized that the human had let the subject go. "No." He replied. "No we won't."

Edward cleared his throat then, gaining the attention of everyone present in the room. "If you don't mind me asking Mr. Black, but …what are you?" He questioned the human.

Harry smiled and answered, "Why Mr. Cullen, I thought you could tell." He said as he grinned like a Cheshire cat. "I am a…human."

Edward frowned and Harry laughed at loud. "S-sorry…" Harry said as he tried to control himself. "That was just too good to pass up.

Edward bit back a scowl and frowned even more heavily at that. According to him, pranks from Emmett were more than enough. He did not need any one else joining in.

"I am a wizard." Harry answered once he finished laughing. And his answer caused many raised eyebrows.

"…Like the green, broom riding, wood waving, long nosed and ugly witches?" Emmett asked, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

Everyone turned to glare at Emmett but Harry just raised his eyebrow. "Those are hags." He replied while waving his dismissively, "Minus the broom riding part of course." And then he added as an afterthought, "And wood waving too."

Now everyone turned to look at him. "You are kidding." It was Alice that deadpanned.

Harry turned to look at the brunette and replied. "I am positively sure, I am not." He replied as he was a little amused at their disbelief. "In fact, we have a sport that is played purely on brooms. It called Quidditch."

"So …what? You just sort of hang around in air on your brooms?" Emmett once again asked. And his question led to a lengthy discussion on the game.

After they had talked about the game, they talked about the other creatures that existed in the world. They talked about Goblins, Elves, Centaurs and other such creatures. And when it came to Dragons, Harry explained that yes, dragons existed and that no, Emmett can't fight them as they are protected creatures. And that yes, Unicorns exist too. But that Emmett can't drink their blood as it would curse him in the vilest of ways.

This led to Cullens revealing that the Quileute tribe was a tribe of werewolves. This caused Harry to raise many questions, since he knew that werewolves did not spread the disease through procreation. After discussing it for some time, it came out that werewolves were actually shapeshifters, which Harry could attest to as he had known that the some tribes of America and Africa had some sort of native magic that allowed them to turn into animals.

Overall, by the end of the hour, the meeting was going on quite a pleasant note. Everyone was asking questions about the other's world. It was quite fascinating.

But in all that chaos, an idea had struck Harry halfway through the meeting and he was just itching to ask them about it. "So say Carlisle?" Harry said, gaining the attention of the vampire. "What do you do with the bodies of the animals?" Harry asked the vampire with a thoughtful face.

Carlisle blinked once at the abrupt question before he replied, "We bury them."

Harry blinked and then blinked again. "Bury them? What the hell for?" He asked in disbelief.

"Well we can't just leave them lying around." Carlisle replied with a frown, "Humans will become suspicious if they come across a body drained completely of blood."

Carlisle watched as the hum-…no, not human…wizard's face turned thoughtful. He wondered what had brought it on.

"Hmm…I suppose they would, wouldn't they? Nosey buggers, these muggles." The wizard mused. "Well I have a proposition." He announced cheerily.

"A proposition?" Carlisle asked skeptically, "And what would that be?"

"Well the thing is that I am building a zoo …sort of… for magical creatures." Harry began his explanation, "And besides what the island provides, I have to import a portion of meat from various other places." He said nonchalantly but the vampires were staring at him wide eyes. After all, who wouldn't if you owned a zoo of magical creatures?

"And since you are just wasting the meat away, why not give it to me. You'll even get paid for the meat which currently you waste away." Harry continued ignoring the expression of vampires.

"You have a zoo of magical animals?" Emmett's loud voice boomed in the room. "Can we visit? Can we visit? Please? Please? Pretty please?" The Vampire pleaded and Harry laughed at his antics.

"That won't be a problem from our side, Harry." Carlisle answered when he recovered a little. "But how will you transport it all the way to Britain?" He asked.

Harry smiled at the vampire dismissively, "Don't you worry about that." Harry reassured the vampire, "My elves will take care of that."

"Alright then." Carlisle mused though he was still a little confused, "And don't worry about paying us for the bodies. We are not exactly poor." Carlisle said with a mischievous smile.

Harry smiled back at the man, "Neither am I." He countered, "If it was not clear from the fact that I own a zoo."

"Still." Carlisle insisted. According to him, he could not take money for something like this, when he was making enough from other sources. "I would prefer it if you would don't pay us."

"If that's what you want." Harry answered skeptically. "Sure." He would, after all, not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"That's settled then." Carlisle said smiling, "We'll leave the bodies out of our house in a dumpster and your elves we'll take them away."

"Just ring me once you have returned from your hunt." Replied Harry as he nodded and then continued, "That reminds me, what do you do with the fur?"

Carlisle glanced at Alice once and replied, "Our Alice is kind of a designer and very fond of fur." Alice smiled at that. "She used to make dresses earlier but since the ban*, we just store it away carefully." Carlisle once again glanced at Alice and chuckled lightly. "She won't let us waste away _'good fur'_."

Alice huffed and crossed her arms, "Damn right I won't." Everyone laughed lightly at her answer but she continued ignoring everyone, "You never know if the ban might get repealed in future. I just want to have my fur in case it happens."

Harry eyed all the vampires for a minute, specially the clothes that they were wearing. They all were dressed nicely, their dresses belonging to current fashion. Even the colors meshed perfectly and each dress suited its wearer and complemented their looks.

"You designed their dresses?" Harry asked Alice with an eyebrow raised.

Alice raised her own eyebrow in answer and since she couldn't see the wizard's future, she did not know where the wizard was going with this line of questioning. "There's not much to do when you have an eternity to live." Alice replied cryptically and warily, "I amuse myself by being in charge of what my family wears."

"Hmm..." Harry mused at the vampire's reply, "So you did design them?" He questioned again.

Alice nodded once, not knowing where this line of questions was going and not liking being in dark for once.

Harry smiled brightly at her at that and replied, "That's even better."

"Huh?" Alice and other vampires looked at him confusingly, "What?"

"Well, Fur is not banned in magical world." Harry began his explanation, "So I was planning on buying it from you and selling it in magical world. But now that you are a designer, how do you feel about opening your own brand store?" He asked the disbelieving vampire.

"But won't they notice that I never change or they might figure out that I am a vampire." Alice asked, not wanting to get her hopes high for nothing. "And the fur has been stored for quite some time; it would have gotten damaged by now, even through all the precautions."

"Don't worry about the fur; whatever damage it might have suffered, can be undone easily with magic." Harry answered waving off her doubts about the condition of fur. After all, simple 'Repairo' from the Elder wand was enough to turn back the fur to its best condition.

"And as for your other problem…Hmm…" Harry pondered on it for a moment before answering, "Magicals do age rather slowly as compared to muggles and when things begin to get difficult, ee can always use glamour charms to change your appearance." He answered and then his volume lowered as he began talking to himself, "Though I'll have to bind it to another surface, you vamps don't seem to have enough magic to sustain the glamour. And I'll have to charge it regularly."

Harry then gave Alice an once-over –much to Jasper's distress- and seemed to continue talking to himself, "Hmm… difficult… but not impossible…hmm doable…" Then his voice got louder as he addressed them, "It's not much of a problem." He answered nonchalantly, "A glamour charm here, a glamour charm there and you won't even recognize your own face. If you are interested, then the offer is still on the table." He finished with a smile.

The vampire in question squealed in a very high voice and began jumping. "I would love it. Really love it." Alice squealed again in happiness. She had, after all, always wanted to start her own designer line for quite some time now but had never dared to venture into the field due to the danger of being recognized. But now she had a way out of the situation. It was her dream that now came true.

"Very well then." Harry replied with a smile, "I'll contact my solicitor and set up the company with you and me as co-owners."

Alice nodded at the proposal as she smiled brightly. Harry, on the other hand, pondered for a minute, "We'll also need some professional seamstress's, to get you acquainted with what is expected out of a wizard robe."

Alice blinked once at the wizard's reply. "Robe?"

"Ah! Yes." Harry blinked once and began his explanation, "Wizarding Society has a different fashion sense than the muggle society. Think of it as a totally different country with totally different culture. Like if you were designing for … India for instance. Woman there wear some sort of cloth draped around them… Sari I believe they call it." He explained patiently, "Similarly, Wizarding world has a very different dressing sense. It would be similar to the late 1800's of muggle society, I believe."

Alice blinked and settled down, this was news to her.

"Wizard wear are created using magic, which you obviously can't do, and they contain many charms ingrained into the fabric." Harry continued his explanation, "Of course you can't perform those charms, so we'll have to hire seamstress to do all the work for you. You'll have to design and direct, that's all."

Alice blinked once, disappointed at the news but Harry smiled at her and said, "Worry not Mrs. Cullen, everything will sort itself out." He placated the somewhat sad vampire. "If you really wish to stitch them up, you can."

Alice smiled at that. She wanted to be a part of her work and her clothes that she would design. She did not want to be one those designers that just dictated their underlings.

It was at this moment that the hands of the clocked reached 12 and Harry realized that he was late for the already late opening of the diner. He cursed mentally and quickly apologized for the lack of time.

"I will like to meet you all once again." He told the family of Vampires, "But today time has run short and I do need to open the diner before half the town comes knocking at my door, wondering just why the diner's closed without any previous notice."

"It's not a problem." Carlisle replied with a smile. "We all have to maintain our charades, after all."

"That we have to." Harry agreed with a smile. "But come by the diner sometime, maybe I could have arranged some creature blood for you Eh! Emmett."

The vampire in question grinned happily and replied, "Hell yeah!" Harry laughed at the vampire's enthusiastic reaction and waved them off.

* * *

*: I do not know whether fur is banned in US or not, but considering all the work of PETA and other organizations that I have read in newspaper, I am assuming it is. And in case it isn't, then for the course of this story, it is. Bear with it.

A/N: Also as you might have noticed, many things have been left unsaid. Well, that was done for a reason and that reason is that both the parties don't trust each other implicitly. And as for the business between the two parties, well business is business and shall forever remain so.

I am looking for a beta.

* * *

As always, those who review get a sneak-peak in the next chapter, So...

Love it?

Hate it?

Just review and let me know!


	4. Arc: Business Part 1

**This is unbeta'ed.**

* * *

A/N 1: I am really sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but as I told those who reviewed, there are times when one can do nothing but watch from the sidelines as life goes on. I will try to publish the next chapter within a weak and if everything goes well, I will succeed I this little endeavor.

A/N 2: As you'll notice below, I have added the date system from this chapter. I hope it will give you an Idea of the timeline of the story. I am using the timeline provided on the website . If you wish to crosscheck, then please feel free to visit the website.

A/N 3: This is the last one, I promise! Harry's age is 22. Instead of being born in 1980, he was born in 1983 and everything went on from there.

* * *

24, January 2005

Harry reached the diner and as his eyes fell on the group of people loitering around his establishment, he cursed mentally. He was sure, that this was the work of his waitress, the same one who was slouching against the wall while she chewed gum and texted crazily.

Harry sighed as he drove up to the diner; the waitress, Cindy, looked up from her mobile phone and her gaze fell on him, "I told the customers to wait," she told him nonchalantly as he stepped out of his truck. Harry wanted to grimace; he really did, but held his emotions in.

Cindy was, after all, trying to be a proper waitress by entertaining the customers –not that she doing anything but slouching- while he arrived. Harry wanted to curse the girl, he really did, for he was sure -and he had never been more sure of anything else in his life- that by the time evening arrived, the news that his diner had opened later than usual, would have spread around the town of Forks like wildfire.

Gossip had a way of spreading like that.

"Hello Cindy," Harry tried to smile at his waitress and succeeded with some difficulty; she had been, after all, just doing her job and he couldn't just show his displeasure for that. "Thanks for holding all of them," He replied, trying to sound sincere; though he wasn't sure that he succeeded. The girl in question nodded once as she -lazily- chewed her gum. She was rather un-talkative for a person who chatted and texted as much as she did.

And with that, the chatter began anew.

He could hear them whispering in the background, gossiping and talking about god knows what. But, at least, he knew that these people weren't planning anything malicious; extravagant and over enthusiastic they maybe but malicious they were not. It was with that thought that he suffered the inquisitive glances, surreptitious sneaks and the not-so-subtle whispers.

Just as he had guessed, by the time evening arrived, he had to accommodate the largest gathering of people he had seen in his diner, ever since his arrival in the town; even the day he had opened his diner, he had not attracted this much crowd. Harry sighed; if that had been all, then too, he would have suffered quietly but unfortunately for him, it was not so.

Starting from the time he had finally opened his diner and by the time evening had arrived, Harry had been asked about the reason for the delay in opening the diner by no less than 47 people. Even then too, the torture did not seem to end. Since he had told the 'good people of Forks' that he had had a few guests over –which was the truth; though a conceited truth but truth none the less- there were now several rumors about his supposed guest and 'companion'; where that bit about his 'companion' had popped up, Harry did not know.

Harry sighed inwardly.

Just why, why had he said that he had a guest over? Now, the entire town was busy deciphering the identity of his supposed 'companion'. And since Harry had decided to keep the identity of his guest a secret –with all the rumors and gossip that Cullens had surrounding them, Harry did not want to be associated with them in anyway- people of the little town of Forks were convinced that Harry had had his lady love over; Harry had face-palmed at that bit of rumor.

And now they were busy deciphering the identity of his lady love. He sighed; he really was at his wits end at the moment.

It was at such a moment that Seth walked in; wearing a troubled expression on his face and causing Harry to scowl; he did not want to deal with teenage angst, of all things, at the moment.

The teenager walked over to the counter with the troubled expression still plastered at his face. Harry wanted to groan, he really did. The teenager though -seemingly oblivious to his crush's mental state- tried to say something but all he could manage was some fidgeting and nervous nibbling of his lips.

Harry sighed as he offhandedly noted that he was sighing way too much today, but began a conversation with the teen anyway, "Stop twiddling!" Harry ordered the teen, "And out with it already!"

The teen stopped fidgeting and looked up at Harry with big hopeful brown eyes; eyes that seemed to look at Harry with all their might, trying to convey everything that the teen was feeling. And Harry sighed. Again. He really was sighing way too much today.

"Did you have your girlfriend over last night?" The teen's blunt statement caught Harry off guard. And even though he had been expecting some drama from the teen, he had not expected Seth to charge with all the subtlety of a charging bull in a china shop.

"I fail to see how it's any of your business," Harry answered a little irritated, "But for the general awareness of the masses," his sarcasm could not have been more literal, "I do not have a girlfriend."

Seth scrunched his face a little, trying to find any hole in the answer, before he asked again either ignoring or oblivious to Harry's mood, "So did you have a girl over?"

"No." Harry snapped and in his irritation and continued, "And again, how is this any of your concern?"

Apparently, the teen did not hear the irritation in Harry's voice or if he did, the teen chose to ignore it completely as he gave Harry a big bright grin, showing off his white teeth. "That's awesome!" The teen replied enthusiastically. Harry sighed –again- as he massaged his temples. The teen needed a healthy dose of subtlety bulldozered into his head, at least in Harry's opinion. But, no matter what his thoughts were on the matter, he would not be the one to teach the teen some subtlety; the job description included too much drama in his opinion. "Whatever kid." Harry waved off the teen.

But apparently it was the wrong thing to say, as the smile dropped from the teen's face faster than Fudge frunning Voldemort. The said teen now stared at Harry with a scowl marring his features. "I am not a kid!" Seth replied somewhat heatedly.

Now, Harry had very good self-preservation instincts and as such, generally, he could identify the situations that had the potential to blow over. But as the situation was, Harry was way too irritated to care and thus replied condescendingly, "Not from where I am lookin'."

The teen –Seth- narrowed his eyes and snapped, "I am not a kid!" He said teen, argued again, just as hotly.

"Sure, sure." Harry said, infuriating Seth further with his apathy. And the teen had the right to be furious; after all, Seth had to hear from his crush that the said crush considered him nothing other than a child.

Furious and somewhat insulted Seth stalked off of the diner. But his little talk with Harry had garnered attention of the rest of the patrons. Harry noticed the unwanted attention and rolled his eyes, "Teenagers!" He mumbled in supposed exasperation, letting the patrons believe that he had shown his exasperation on the teen's reaction rather than at the nosiness of the townspeople.

While the adults nodded in affirmation at his exasperation, the rest of his customers –which included teens and preteens- scowled at his declaration.

Well, he couldn't please everyone.

And he wouldn't even try.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

24, January 2005.

Edward 'Mason' Cullen was having a bad day, or rather it would be better to say that he was having a bad week really. It had all begun when the Swan girl had moved into town, or rather when she had entered his class, filling the room with her delicious, sweet, scrumptious and inviting scent. Though the act had been simple on her part, but to him, it had turned out to be a strong incentive to kill the girl; to rip her head apart and to drink the delicious life giving liquid flowing in her veins. And what an incentive it had been!

He had wanted to kill the girl, to rip her throat apart and to let her delicious blood drip down her pale throat; he had wanted to drink the girl dry; to drink every last drop that was present in her frail human body. But he had not. He had controlled himself -only god knew how he did it, because he surely did not- he had done it nonetheless, he had let the girl live. Even though the girl had turned out to be his singer of all things, he had let her live.

And then he had run away; ran away from the instincts that made him a killer, a murderer, a criminal. He had run as far as he could; far enough that he had thought that the ghost of his singer's scent won't affect him no more; he had run away to Denali. But there too, he hadn't had peace; he had had to suffer the lecherous gaze and the disturbingly erotic mind of one Tanya Denali. He had suffered her as much as he could, he really had, but he could suffer her no more and thus had returned home, to his family, to Forks. But he had not returned alone; he had returned with a strong conviction; a desire that he won't let the Swan girl affect him and his family; that he won't be the reason that his family moved again.

As such, he would be rejoining his brothers and sisters in the school and would try to exist as normally as he could. But to face his singer again, he had to prepare himself; for if he faced the girl while he was thirsty, then he wasn't sure if the Swan girl would survive the encounter. Thus he had decided to go on a hunt.

He had wanted to drink till his body sloshed with all the blood that he would have consumed; that had been his plan of action and that was what he had done. But in his bloodthirsty state he had not considered much besides the animal that he had killed, as a result, it was only after that he had made his last kill did he notice that the mountain Lion that he had killed was a female and that it was a recent mother.

Edward grimaced. He had killed a mother lioness, which probably still had its cubs depending on it. Grimacing again, he began searching for the cubs; his search soon came to an end as he followed his senses, mainly his ears and his nose. It seemed that that the mother had not gone far off from her cubs.

Picking up the 3 cubs –who were growling in fear- the copper haired vampire wondered what to do. He could obviously not keep the cubs with him; the little things would die of fear alone; he was speaking from experience, unfortunately. It was then that he remembered that his new acquaintance had a zoo, of all things. Smiling, Edward called the said acquaintance, "Hello," A voice with decidedly British accent replied.

"Harry," Edward answered, "This is Edward Cullen."

"Ah yes. Edward," The British man said as he recognized the name, "What can I do for you?"

"Well…" Edward hesitated but told his story nonetheless. In the end he there was only one left for him to ask, "Can you take them in? They'll die on their own in the Forest."

There was a pause on the other side as the British national thought over the proposal, "Well… I think I could expand the zoo to include muggle animals." The man mused out loud, "Sure. Leave them in the dumpster and my elf will take care of them."

Sighing in relief, Edward thanked the other man, "Thank you. You have no idea how relieved I am."

"Think nothing of it Edward." The other man replied casually, "It's not a big deal." With that, Edward ended the call and continued on with his hunt.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

26, January 2005

"Teddy!" Harry called out to his son; which resulted in an answering yell of "Yes Da!" from whichever corner the 5 year old was hiding.

"I am calling grandma!" The elder man answered before continuing, "Come quick for I won't be explaining to her why you are not here to greet her."

"No don't!" The boy's answering yell was near frantic, "I am coming! I am coming!" Andromeda, being a master manipulator that she was, had guilt tripped the 5 year old so badly that he always wanted to be there whenever Harry called the woman.

Teddy came running into his room and crashed into him. "Easy…easy there tiger." Harry said with a chuckle as he picked the boy up. "Let's call your grandma now."

The boy nodded vigorously as he gave Harry a grin the size of Hogwarts. Harry smiled at his son's antics and sat down in his bed while placing Teddy securely in his lap. "All right then," He said before picking up the mirror from the side table, "Andromeda," He called clearly.

The mirror went black for a few moments before the smiling face of Andromeda Tonks appeared in its full glory, "Gandma!" Teddy called loudly, making Harry cringe at the noise.

"Teddy!" The woman replied just as happily, "Oh my child, how are you? Look how much you have grown!" She gushed at her grandson.

"Haven't I?" Teddy preened happily before he frowned, "But Da still picks me up like a sack of potato." He sulked. Adorably.

The woman chuckled, "Well your Da is a grown man; obviously he can pick you up." She answered but when Teddy still continued to sulk, she continued, "Wait until you are a little older; I am sure you'll give your Da a run for his money then." Happy at the statement, the child turned to face his father and said, "You hear that Da." The boy said as he pointed towards the mirror. "Just you wait and I'll be picking you up like paper."

Harry smiled indulgingly and patted his son's hair before replying, "You keep dreaming potato sack…" He told the boy, "I hear it's good for your mind."

Teddy scowled and turned to face his grandmother, "You see that grandma…" He whined as he pointed his finger at Harry and shook it vigorously, "…He's always like that."

The woman seemed to resist a smile as she admonished Harry, "Now, now Harry," She said "I am sure that Teddy could defeat you in a few years."

Harry eyed his son doubtfully to tease the boy –who pouted- before answering with a smile, "I was just kidding," The man answered, "I am sure Teddy can do whatever he wants."

Teddy gave a smug look at that while Andromeda smiled, "So what have you two been up to?" She asked. And that question caused Teddy to launch himself in a very animated description of his life. He told about how Billy from class had drawn the exact same mountain that he had and he told the older woman about the new friends that he had made.

The discussion went on for a while before Andromeda turned on Harry, "What have you been doing Harry?" She said as she addressed the man, "Is there someone that you are interested in?" Teddy turned to face Harry at the question; he too was interested in the answer.

"I don't think there anything interesting in this dreary town," Harry answered honestly, "Let alone a person."

Andromeda shook her head at the answer, "You are in your prime Harry. It's time that you begin to look for someone."

Harry took a glance and Teddy -who was frowning in worry- before replying, "Besides I don't want to divide my time between Teddy and someone else. I am Happy as I am." He answered, before addressing his son, "Isn't that right Teddy?"

"Yes! We don't need no one!" The boy said as he nodded vigorously. Harry smiled at his son and continued, "That reminds me," Harry continued before Andromeda could say anything, "Could you finalize a deal for me, to open a clothing company, specializing in fur, under the ownership of House Potter and Alice Cullen?"

Andromeda raised an eyebrow at that but resisted from questioning further when Harry gave her a look, "Not a problem dear." She replied, "It will be done by next week at the latest."

"Thank you for your excellent work as always Andromeda." Harry replied with a smile.

The rest of the conversation went normally with Teddy talking about his day and his friends while Harry gave his input in between at times. Andromeda, the pureblood princess of House Black, gushed over her grandson like a teenage girl, all the while Teddy preened like a peacock under her praises.

Harry rolled his eyes.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

27, January 2005

Harry hid his irritation at old Mrs. Waters insistent questions. The old woman, like the rest of the town, was still enamored by the 'mystery woman' that Harry was dating. There were all sorts of conspiracy theories buzzing around; leading from her being ugly to her being super model.

"Ah Mrs. Waters," Harry tried to smile charmingly and barely succeeded, "Why would I date someone when I can enjoy the company of such a beautiful woman?" He asked with a grin.

The woman laughed lightly, "You boys these days," She admonished, "Charming as always. Why, if my husband had been this charming, I would have proposed him myself." She announced happily.

"You hear that Mr. Waters," Harry called out to the said woman's husband, "You charm her right and she'll propose to ya."

"Don't ya lis'en to her," The old man admonished instead, "She's all talk; that woman. I tell ya! Have been livin' with her for 45 years; 45 years I tell ya and never ever did she do such a thing."

Mrs. Waters turned red at the statement -whether in anger or in embarrassment, Harry did not know and did not care enough to know- and replied, "Why you old geezer…" Harry tuned the pair out at that moment.

'Mission accomplished.' At least, for now, he had diverted the attention of the masses away from him. That thought caused him to frown. He had thought that the deal with his guests will blow over in a few days but it seemed that it had a taken a life of its own. Harry decided to ignore it at the moment; after all, it was not as if he could to anything about it.

With that somewhat morbid thought, Harry continued to work

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

* * *

As always, those who review will get a sneak peak in the next chapter.

Love it?

Hate it?

Just review and let me know!


	5. Arc: Business Part 2

A/N: A 'guest' reviewer pointed out that I use 'As such' a little too much; is it really so? If it is, then I do apologize but as I do not have a beta, I tend to –being a human being that I am- overlook my mistakes subconsciously.

Once more thing, you people need not worry about any kind of malicious retort from me; that is, until you are not outright abusing me and follow the least bit of courteousness required. You need not review as guest to criticize my writings; that is, until you are polite and not abusive.

Now this chapter is dedicated to **RenTamiya and Yukimori of the Cherokee**, for my tardiness and something else discussed between us that you lot do not need to know! ;)

Now on with the story!

* * *

27, January 2005

Later that night, when Harry returned from the Diner with Teddy, he was greeted by a near frantic Dobby as the elf clutched at his ears and tugged at them repeatedly; clearly something was bothering the eccentric elf.

"Dobby?" Harry called out, drawing the elf's attention, "Has something happened at the zoo?"

As Dobby was the elf that Harry trusted the most and that was fanatically loyal to him, Harry had entrusted to him the charge of all the elves that worked in the preparing the Island for the zoo. The Elf wilted at the question as his large ears dropped like a lifeless leaf. "Dobby is a bad bad elf!" The elf wailed fiercely, "Dobby can not care of master's little cubs; Dobby can not! No matter what Dobby does; Dobby fails!"

"Calm down. Calm down Dobby." Harry tried to placate the eccentric elf but failed utterly. He sighed before speaking sternly, "Calm down Dobby! Now!" He commanded and the elf calmed down instantly, trained as he was to follow orders.

"Now," He spoke calmly again before asking the eccentric elf, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Master's cubs that Master sent," The elf answered with his big green eyes filled with tears, "They don't eat! They don't drink! They'll die master Harry! They'll die!"

Harry frowned at the news for a moment before he schooled his features and asked, "Bring them here Dobby; I'll see what I can do." He told the elf.

The elf nodded it's big head frantically and disappeared with a pop, only to appear a second later with 3 mountain Lion cubs lying in a basket. "Dobby has failed!" The elf wailed again, "Dobby has failed the master!"

"Shh Dobby," Harry told the elf, "Let me study them for a while. I'll call you when I am done."

The elf nodded frantically before he disappeared with a pop. Teddy, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, came up to the basket and stared at the cubs. "What are these?" He asked, the 5 year old had not been taught about different kinds of animals yet.

"They are mountain lion cubs Teddy," Harry explained gently, "But for some reason they are not eating anything." He said as he eyed the said cubs. The little things whimpered and nestled even further into each other; afraid.

Harry sighed; of course the cubs were afraid. They had been taken from their mother's care and had been transferred repeatedly by magic. It would invoke fear even in human children, let alone animals.

"Bring me some meat from the fridge Teddy," The green eyed man told his son, "And some water too; in a bowl." He added as an afterthought.

Teddy ran as fast as his little legs could carry him before he came back with the things that were asked of him. "Thank you son." Harry said absently as he placed the required things in front of the fearful cubs. The little things whimpered again and tried to move away from the human but didn't have enough energy to do so. Harry frowned and turned to face Teddy, "Move a little away from me Teddy, I am going to change." He told the boy.

Said boy perked up instantly before he moved back and asked, "What will you change into huh? Will you change into your magical form? Tell me! Tell me!" He chattered rapidly in his excitement.

Harry chuckled at his son's enthusiasm before answering, "I don't think there's any need for magical form." He told his son.

The boy nodded sagely as if the answer made perfect sense, "Will you become tiger or snake?" The boy asked again before continuing, "Oooh! Tiger! Please turn into a tiger. Please! I haven't had a tiger ride in sooooooooo loooooong!" He whined; looking more adorable than he wanted to.

Harry chuckled again, "These are lion cubs Teddy," Harry pointed out, "I can't help them as a snake."

"Oooh!" Teddy let the word stretch for a few seconds, "What are you waiting for then?" The child admonished, "Change already!"

Harry laughed lightly at Teddy's antics and then changed. Where once there had been a man standing, now stood a meter tall tiger that weighed more than 500 pounds and stretched more than 3 meters in length.

Teddy began to run towards the tiger, to ride his favorite horse, but the Tiger raised one of its massive paw, stopping Teddy in his tracks; the boy pouted lightly but stayed back.

The tiger then stalked towards the cubs and made a low growling noise to attract the attention of the young lions. Clearly it had been the wrong thing to do as the three cubs turned to face the massive beast and whimpered at the sight.

Harry paused at the sight of whimpering cubs and crouched low. Slowly, so as not to frighten the cubs further, Harry lowered his head and gave all the three cubs a massive lick; much to Teddy's amusement as the boy giggled.

Harry then lay on the floor, with his soft underbelly shown, and drew the cubs towards him into his soft warmth. The cubs, as weak as they were, did nothing to resist the massive creature. Harry licked the cubs again, to make them a little more comfortable, before pushing the bowls containing meat and water towards them.

The little lions whimpered again but on Harry insistent nudging began to drink a little bit of water. Harry frowned a little at their insistence of only touching liquid before he turned to face Teddy. With a little bit of passive leglimency, Harry asked Teddy to call Dobby and ask the elf to bring three bottles of milk for the children.

Teddy nodded in understanding and did as he was told. He brought the bottles and offered them to the little lions. When the cubs still hesitated, Harry licked their faces again and nudged them. His insistence seemed the work as the cubs finally began to drink the milk.

The rest of time that day was spent between taking care of the cubs or playing with Teddy as the 5 year old rode his favorite horse.

Harry sighed internally. It seemed that the cubs weren't going to the zoo anytime soon.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

3 February 2005

A week had already passed and Harry had finally received the word from Andromeda that the legal work for establishing the clothing company was finally over. All that remained, now, was establishing a shop and acquiring the dresses.

Thus Harry had called the Cullen Coven and had invited them to his home to discuss the matter further. And for the duration of the visit, he had send Teddy to Andromeda with Dobby's help -elf magic was a wonderful thing really; they could appear before their master anywhere, the distance between them not being a factor- as he did not want Teddy anywhere near Cullen's until he began trusting these vampires.

As such, when Cullen's arrived at his home, he welcomed the vampires and offered them a seat.

"The legal side of the matter regarding our clothing shop has been handled," Harry announced after the pleasantries had been exchanged, "All that remains is for you to start creating your dresses." He said as he addressed Alice.

Alice let out a happy squeal before calming under Jasper's influence. "There was one thing that I wanted to discuss with you," Jasper began, speaking for the first time, "Will this shop deal only in fur and nothing else?"

Harry frowned at the question before answering, "Well… I will have to see the response is for the designs that Alice comes up with; if the response is good then we can obviously expand further into the world of magical fabrics, like spider silk, Arcomantula silk, Dragon hide, Fairy silk and Fairy Dust." He answered honestly, "I don't want to put all my eggs in the same basket, you understand." He explained.

At his answer, a silence descended upon the group, "…There are different types of magical fabrics?" Alice whispered reverently.

"Well… yes." Harry answered, "We are an entire different world Alice; we do everything differently." He explained, "And if you were to sell Muggle fabrics in magical world, then I don't believe your shop will be very popular."

"Why?" Alice asked as her curiosity peaked, "What's wrong with muggle -was it- fibres?"

"Wizards and witches are creatures that are very close to earth and nature," Harry began his explanation, "That's the reason that plastic, even with its many uses, has not been accepted in magical society. It's unnatural and it hinders the connection between a magical and nature. It is for this reason that quill is more popular than pen."

"And since many muggle fabrics are processed results," Alice continued where Harry had left the sentence, "Your kind will not accept them."

"Correct." Harry said with the smile, "Of all the muggle fabrics, the only ones that magicals use are Cotton –pure cotton- and pure silk." Harry continued on with his explanation, "And these fabrics are worn only by those that cannot afford magical fabrics. They are poor man's clothes."

Alice sat back at the information, and looked down on the clothes that she was wearing, _'Poor man's clothes'_. She scowled.

"Don't take it otherwise Alice," Harry said with an apologetic smile, "I did tell you that magical world was an entirely different world."

"…Yes," Alice grumbled unhappily, "But I had not anticipated this much of a difference."

"You are experiencing the same problems that many Muggleborns face; it's called Culture shock." Harry answered, "I would recommend considering magical world a country that is completely alien to you and whose culture is so different to yours that you cannot even begin to fathom their practices. Say… consider it a country whose culture is similar to … India or China."

"Still…" Alice sulked, "Poor man's clothes!" She said in disbelief, before continuing, "What is so special about magical fabrics?" She questioned.

Harry smiled mysteriously at the question, "Even you'll agree with the magical world once you have had a taste of magical fabrics," He answered before waving his hand and summoning a robe from his closet, "If you would feel the cloth yourself?" He asked the pixie-like vampire.

Alice huffed and extended her hands to touch the fabric; her eyes widened instantly. "This is…" She began but didn't complete the sentence as she carefully picked up the robe before placing it in her lap and examining it.

Harry chuckled, "…I see you agree with me." He said with a smile.

"This is… This is the softest fabric I have come across." Alice said in awe, "Just what is this?"

"That, Mrs. Cullen, is Arcomantula silk." Harry answered smugly, "And it not even the best fabric available in magical world."

"What!?" Alice questioned in astonishment, as she passed the robe to Rosalie and Esme, before continuing, "How is that even possible!"

"India and China Mrs. Cullen," Harry reminded the vampire, "India and China."

"What is Arcomantula silk?" A little mollified at the chiding, Alice asked, "And what are the other fabrics that you spoke of?"

"Arcomantula is a giant magical spider." Harry answered, "It can be as big as a house and some of them are even capable of human speech. Vicious things; those spiders." Harry said as he made a face, before continuing, "And Arcomantula silk is the silk that this creature produces for its nets and stuff."

"Oh…" Alice said, a little dumbfounded at the information, "And the rest?" She asked in amazement.

"Dragon Hide and Spider silk are fairly obvious, I believe," Harry said and received various nods in response, "Then there is fairy silk and Fairy dust."

"Before I explain them, you have to know what fairies are." Harry informed the group, "They are tiny humanoid creatures with wings and about 2 inches tall. And even though they look like humans, they are not humans in any way. They are sentient to some degree but not more than that."

"Indeed, they are much closer to butterflies than humans," Harry continued his explanation, "They lay eggs that hatch into larva. This larva then builds a cocoon around itself and from this cocoon emerges a new fairy."

When all the vampires nodded in understanding, Harry continued, "Now, the cocoons left behind by the newly hatched fairies is used to produce fairy silk," Harry explained, "But for fairy dust, the cocoons are used while the fairy larva is still inside; much like how muggle silk is produced from the silk moth. During the process, the larva inside the cocoon disintegrates, releasing its magic into the cocoon. And this magic is what gives Fairy dust its brilliant sheen, colors and beauty."

Silence descended over the group as Harry finished his explanation.

"But that is not the reason for which he have gathered here today," Harry said, breaking the eerie silence, "We are here to discuss the furs that you have and our new company."

"Ah yes," Carlisle said as he came out of his stupor, "It's hard not get a little carried away in the fascinating world that you were painting."

Harry smiled knowingly as he answered, "I understand. I was too, once, a newcomer to the magical world; just like all of you."

"Really?" Edward asked in disbelief, "It doesn't seem so."

"It's a story for another time, Edward." Harry said, "Today we are here to discuss about the collection of furs that you have."

"Yes…" Esme answered, "We have quite a collection; from all the years that we have been collecting."

"If you all don't mind…" Harry began tentatively, "then I would like to see the condition of the fur."

Carlisle remained quiet for a moment before he made a decision and spoke, "Here we only have recent fur and I am guessing you are not interested in that?" He questioned and in answer he received a nod.

"The old fur is stored in Montana," Carlisle continued, "It will take quite some time to drive there and come back. It wouldn't be possible if you have to open your diner tomorrow."

Harry smiled mysteriously before answering, "Who said we'll be driving?"

At the dumfounded looks of the vampires, Harry chuckled and answered, "Carlisle," He addressed the vampire, "Will you please concentrate on the image where all the fur is stored?"

"…Why?" Carlisle asked dubiously.

"You'll see…" Harry answered with a mischievous smile.

Giving the young wizard a last dubious look, Carlisle did as he was asked and Harry, using passive leglimency -despite it being highly disorienting- saw the location. He waved his fingers lightly and conjured a rope long enough that all the 8 people could hold onto it comfortably. He ran his hand over the length of the rope as he mumbled in Latin, turning the rope into a portkey.

"Hold on tight people," Harry announced, "And don't let go, no matter what!" And with that, he activated the portkey.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

The group landed outside a warehouse in the middle of nowhere and though the landing would have been nothing but brutal for a mortal, the vampires landed gracefully as ever. Harry wanted to pout at that; he really did.

"A little warning next time would be nice." Jasper commented as he eyed the wizard dubiously.

"What are you talking abou!t?" Emmett boomed in his ever loud voice, "That was AWESOME!"

"You would think so, wouldn't you." Edward commented to Emmett's outburst.

Harry did not know, what the vampire's were grumbling about. None of them had fallen on their faces like him when he had used the nasty thing for the first time. "Well, now that we are all here," Harry said as he ignored the grumblings of the vampires, "can we see the condition of the fur please?"

Carlisle sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

Alice, eager to start her own clothing line, shut all the grumbling vampires up with a nasty glare before ushering Harry into the warehouse. They took their time inspecting the fur and whenever they came across any fur that was in less than pristine condition, Harry casted a _'Repairo'_ on it for good measure.

The first time Harry had repaired a damaged fur, Alice had squealed so loud in glee, that Harry was sure that all the dogs from Montana to Texas had heard Alice and had cringed at the noise.

As they toured the warehouse and repaired all the damaged fur –which were in no small number, considering the time for which the fur had been sitting on the shelves- Harry and Alice talked about how Alice will manage the store in Britain if she -or her family- were to stay back here in the Colonies.

Harry had already told the vampires that he was not going to open his store in the colonies as he planned on cashing his fame to promote the store and doing that in America will let the world know where he currently resided; something that Harry had no intention of doing. Thus despite Alice's grumblings, their store was to be established in England.

Added to that, was also the fact, that Harry was not willing to move back to Britain as of yet; thus there was no one, that could explain to the vampires, the eccentricities of the magical world and that was a major hurdle in their plans. They even contemplated that just Alice and Jasper might move to Britain but then again the same problem arose; how were the vampires supposed to navigate magical world on their own.

And Harry could not ask anyone to help Cullen's without revealing their secret; something which neither party wanted for their own reasons. Harry did not want magicals to consider his store 'dark' -something they would easily do if they found out that Alice was a vampire- while Cullens did not want an unnecessary risk by revealing themselves to the entire magical community.

When no solution was found, Harry suggested that Alice designed and completed the dresses here in the Colonies and shipped them to England for sale; like outsourcing, he commented with no little amusement at the irony.

And to maintain the quality control, she and Harry could give their store surprise checks anytime they want. Alice was, to say the least, '_displeased'_ with the proposal but seeing no way out of the situation, agreed.

By the time, the restoration was finally finished; night had already befallen on the sky. Harry created another portkey for his home and brought the Cullen's back to Forks.

"What is this means of travel?" Edward asked once they were again seated in Harry's home, "I have never heard of such a thing before."

"You remember to ask about it now?" Harry asked as he questioned the lateness of that particular question.

"I had no intention to be mauled by Alice by disturbing you both while you chatted with her," Edward pointed out dryly before continuing, "I am not suicidal."

Edward's answer was muffled by Alice's indignant shout of, "Hey!"

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

A/N: As always, those who review, get a sneak-peak in the next chapter.

Love it?

Hate it?

Just review and let me know!


	6. Arc: Business Part 3

A/N: Soooooooo I'm Alive; surprising, I know. I am truly sorry for the lateness of this chapter and I truly don't have any excuse; I was just feeling lazy and somehow lost my will to write. But it seems my muse has somehow returned, so that's good news.

Also, I made a few changes in the last chapter, explaining why Alice's store can't be located in Wizarding America. So check that out if you want to.

Now, on with the story.

Oh, one last thing, belated Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to all my readers!

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

"Harry Potter" Speaking

'_Harry Potter'_ Thinking

"_Harry Potter" _ Written/Reading

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

5 February, 2005

The buzzing of the outer wards alerted Harry of the fact that an undead was approaching his property from the direction of the forest and it was approaching fast; vampire fast. He frowned at the unexpected arrival, as it was –somewhat- out of character for the Cullens to pay him a visit without a first giving him a call; not to mention borderline rude.

Not wanting to take a chance with Teddy in the house, Harry activated, what he called 'Stage 3' and summoned his broom along with his invisibility cloak before heading out the door. Flying up in the air, while being invisible, Harry was reminded of his encounter with Edward; the scenario was hauntingly similar.

A figure emerged from the dense foliage, with a head covered in black hair the figure was seemingly feminine and on the short side, dressed in different shades of pale colors… "Alice!" Harry snapped in agitation, "What are you doing here?"

Alice –the now named but not so mysterious undead- stopped in her tracks and gave him a bright grin, "I just finished the first set of designs!" She chattered excitedly, "You have to see them and give your opinion! You just have to! They are so cute and with all that fur and magic added into the mix but I am not all that sure of them being successful in the magical world…" Harry tuned her out, at that point, as the vampire began day dreaming.

"And you couldn't have called for …this?" Harry snapped as his irritation increased at the unnecessary chatter that the girl was providing, "I thought there was another vampire coven in the area!"

"… Oops," The vampire answered apologetically, "But I was just so excited that it slipped my mind."

Harry bit back a scowl and frowned, "Please remember to call next time," Harry replied tersely, "The consequences, might not be all pleasant, if you arrive here during my absence."

Suitably chastised, Alice nodded, "Alright… I'll keep it in mind."

Mollified by the answer, Harry drifted down and landed next to the hyperactive vampire, "So what was it that you wanted?"

Alice frowned, "Did you not hear a single word of what I had said?" She admonished indignantly.

"…I did," Harry answered calmly, "But it all got lost amongst the rest of the chatter coming out of you."

A scowl replaced the frown quickly, as Harry continued to speak, "I do not talk nonsense!" Alice argued heatedly, "Besides, I was telling you about the new designs I have come up with, they are…"

"Sure sure," Harry cut in, "Now what designs are you talking about?"

Alice's scowl deepened but she decided to let it go; just this time, "The designs of the dresses, of course," she explained, her excitement taking over her bad mood.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, "What gave you the idea that I had any knowhow about the designs of cloaks and dresses?"

"What!" Alice snapped, "Then what was all the explanation that you were giving the other day; about material and what not?"

"That was me teaching you about my culture," Harry explained with a slight frown, "I have no idea about fashion whatsoever." He announced helplessly. Alice's excitement visibly decreased as her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

'_This cultural difference is turning out to be more of a problem that I had previously thought.' _Harry mused, _'I need to get her an instructor soon; someone who could teach her about the intricacies and do's and don'ts of the magical world.'_

Harry contemplated the problem for a while, before answering, "I'll contact a friend of mine…" He hesitated, not knowing what exactly the reaction of his 'friend' would be, considering that his departure had been rather abrupt, "… She might be able to help you out."

Alice brightened at that bit of news, "Finally something good!" She exclaimed, "I was beginning to lose all hope."

Harry just rolled his eyes at the drama.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

6 February, 2005

Late Afternoon.

"Dobby!" Harry mumbled; summoning the eccentric elf, who appeared dutifully, with a pop, "Master Harry Potter master sir called?" The elf greeted happily; and excitedly, causing Harry to bite back a sigh; no matter how much he tried, he couldn't get Dobby to change his rather ridiculous greeting.

Letting the matter drop for now, he questioned tiredly, "What is the progress on the island?"

"Sir Master Harry Potter sir," The elf straightened up, "Rune are on foundation stones master and on guardian statues master. Elves finished carving runes and have begun building the outer wall!"

"That much already?" Harry questioned back with surprise coloring his voice, before giving the praise where it was due, "Good, very good Dobby."

The green creature clutched both his ears and tugged, embarrassed by the praise, "Master Harry sir is too kind sir," The elf replied in a small voice, eliciting a small smile from Harry; for all his eccentricities, Dobby was still an attention starved creature, wanting nothing more than to serve his master.

Smiling still, Harry handed an envelope to the eccentric elf, "Deliver this letter to Daphne," he told the elf seriously, "And return with her reply. If she tries to postpone tell her that her owl won't be able to locate me."

The little elf nodded his rather disproportionate head vigorously, making his ears flop, and popped away. Harry shook his head in amusement before turning his attention to the island and what Dobby had told him.

When the idea had first formed in his head (and that would be his fourth year, when Harry had been forced to face a Dragon, of all things) the first problem that had presented itself –besides land of course- had been unavailability of work force.

Harry had toyed with the idea of hiring magical creatures for a brief few seconds but had discarded it quickly. He had been in Magical world for more than three years by then and whatever he had heard –or read for that matter- about the other magical creatures had not been pretty.

Goblins –greedy little buggers that they were- would claim ownership over whatever they helped create, no matter how little their help was; their right of inheritance, after all, was very different from that of humans. And it was for this very reason that Wizarding world had forced a treaty on the Goblin nation, which stated, that Goblins would have to employ humans and have these humans do any and all the work that required Goblin nation performing deeds outside of Gringotts.

Goblins still bitched about that little tidbit.

Then there were dwarfs, somewhat more honorable than goblins but dishonest just the same. And working with them was even trickier than working with goblins because Dwarfs had been driven out of the British Islands by wizards and were still bitter about it. The little freaks had long lives and even longer memories.

This had left Harry with only one option for work force; wizards. And considering all the things that he had seen and suffered, in last three years, at the hands of wizards –and that included wrongful imprisonment of Sirius- Harry didn't want to trust wizards anytime soon; especially with something that was going to be his pet project and his dream.

Left with no other option, Harry had all but decided to contract muggles for construction and doing the warding himself (well, as best as he could really) when Dobby had popped up asking Harry to take in Winky to help the poor elf get over her depression of being abandoned and being given clothes.

Not wanting any more responsibility –Dobby being handful as he was- Harry had been more than a little hesitant, to say the least. But to satisfy his enthusiastic little follower, Harry had interviewed Winky with a few simple questions; what was her name, what was she good at and the like.

And it had been there that Winky had mentioned carving as one of her skills; a skill that Barty Crouch Sr. had employed so that she could carve the rune arrays that the old grouch had sketched for various purposes. The old wizard hadn't had the time -or patience for that matter- for carving runes, especially after his wife had died, and had little to no trust in other wizards; considering he was hiding his son in his house at the time, it had been a little understandable, not that Harry had known it at the time.

That particular way of using Runes had boggled his mind. He had known the limitations of Runes of course -he had been taking that class for more than a year and had read more than his fair share of books on the topic- and knew that for Runes to work they needed to be etched by wizards and witches; for it was the magic inside the wizard that was molded and transferred to runes during the carving and it was that magic that made the runes work; without a wizard's magic, Runes were just scratches on stones.

But being a skeptic as he was, he had wanted a demonstration before he believed the female elf's claim. Thus when Winky had demonstrated her carving skill, Harry had activated the Array and much to his pleasant surprise, the array had worked. He had promptly bonded with Winky after that, much to the female elf's surprise as she still believed herself to be undesirable.

With that little revelation, an entire new source of workforce had opened up to him, one that was hardworking and would be loyal to him and him only and to no one else. It had made him grin like a Cheshire cat the entire day.

It had been a rather smooth journey from there, in the matter of gathering work force at least. As being forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament had emancipated him -much to Dumbledore's distress- and he had, thus, access to his vast family fortunes.

The first thing that he had done, had been to ask Dobby and Winky to refurnish the old Potter manor, Forde Abbey; the building had been abandoned since the death of his grandparents and had definitely seen better days.

The next thing had been to ask Winky and Dobby to gather any and all the elves that had been given clothes. It had seemed as a brilliant idea, at first, but when Dobby returned with only 5 elves –out of which 3 had been Potter elves that had been serving at Hogwarts- after searching all of Europe for three months, Harry had to accept that not many people were foolish enough to let go such a wonderful resource as an elf.

Finally deciding that there was no other way, Harry had given Dobby access to his vault and had asked the elf to slowly start buying the elves from the black market from all over Europe; slowly because he had no intention of increasing the demand all of a sudden, resulting in increase in prices. He had also asked his elves to drive a hard bargain; elves were, more often than not, overpriced.

Simple economics.

He had, for a brief few moments, thought about giving access of his vault to Potter family elves but had soon decided against it; they had been under Dumbledore's thumb for way too long and who knew what the manipulative bastard had conditioned them to do. The old coot had been crafty that way.

Over the course of next two years, when he had turned 16, the number of elves that had been bonded to Harry had increased to 50, as all his elves had worked hard to buy at the best price possible but, in the meantime, word had gotten out that the demand of elves had increased and their prices had shot through the roof, much to Harry's annoyance.

This ridiculous increase in prices had Harry withdrawing from the market for the next two years as he did not want to be taken advantage of, something that had been ingrained in him rather thoroughly as a result of being raised at Dursleys where he had been taken advantage of all of his life.

In the meantime, he had Winky teach carving to all of his newly acquired elves, after all, this had been what he had bought them for. It had been an incredibly slow process initially and Harry had to hire a few tutors –who had been bound to silence with magical contracts, of course- but in the end all of his elves had ended up being proficient in carving; their hard work and inner zeal to complete the work assigned to them wouldn't have it any other way.

The ridiculously raised prices from 2 years ago, combined with the low demand had hit the market hard. So when Harry's elves had announced that there was a buyer, almost all were happy to handover the elves, preferably sooner rather than later. He had, also, intentionally made the purchases as soon as possible, so as not to suffer the same inflation as the last time, just because the word of high demand had gotten out again. That, in addition to the fact that none of the merchants had wanted their customer stolen by their competitors, had given Harry enough leeway for his plan to work.

After the period of two years, he had reentered the black market and had bought almost a hundred elves.

Thus, through the course of one month, Harry had become the owner of 150 elves, all working and living at Forde Abbey, his ancestral home where he too had shifted –along with Teddy and Andromeda- after completing his 'education' and killing both Voldemort and Dumbledore.

They had been interesting set of days, to say the least. While all of the new elves were being taught carving by a bunch of his original 50 elves, the rest of the older elves were taught the method of chiseling stone statues and the process of making metal sculptures through the process of '_Lost Wax Technique'_ by the muggle tutors hired by Harry –the elves had been under heavy glamour of course and he had attributed their poor English skills to them being foreigners.

The poor creatures had had to learn the muggle way of making statues, when they could easily to do the same with their magic, because runes carved on the statues would work only if the statues had no innate magic of their own as the inherent magic of the magically created statue would interfere with the molded magic of the runes.

And as far as the source of power for the runes was concerned, Harry had some special arrangements for that in mind.

Now, while his elves had been busy learning their skills, Harry had been busy managing a lot of things. It was, also, during this time that he had tried -and failed miserably- to procure land for what he had in mind. The scale on which he had wanted to buy land was not available in magical world and buying land in muggle world would have kick started a mess that he did not want, both in magical world and in muggle world.

Besides, Harry had wanted to keep the knowledge about his zoo secret, not wanting to deal with all the politicians that were sure to take interest in his project; something that was bound to happen if Harry decided to transfer muggle land to the magical world.

His problem had been finally solved when he had turned 19 and had been going through the assets of the House of Black, which Sirius had left him after the animagus had died of ill-health due to his long stay in Azkaban. The Blacks, filthy rich as they had been, owned a series of Islands –some large some small; some mountainous while others lush green- north of Ireland, hidden behind the work of some of the strongest illusionists possible.

Harry had decided to use one of the larger mountainous Island for the purpose of the zoo and it was there that he had relocated his horde of elves to. The island had been abundant with stone –obviously, being a mountain that it had been- something that he had exploited and had asked his elves to make statues and blocks (with ward matrices and rune arrays –that he had made- carved in them) from the stone available on the Island.

The ward on the stones were designed to make the stone blocks harder than steel and resistant to weather as well as magic; they had to hold powerful magical creatures within their boundaries, after all. Wards for making the stones resistant to magical fire had especially been a bitch to design; it had taken Harry 2 years straight –his sixth and seventh year- to get the matrix right.

The wards on the statues were a little different, as besides including the above mentioned ward matrices, statues also included strong animation wards that allowed them to fight off magical creature in the case of emergency. These statues were supposed to be his primary defense against the creatures, giving the zoo-officials enough time to arrive and contain the situation.

While that had been going on, Harry had started acquiring animals for his zoo. But as most of the dangerous animals required a license from the Ministry of Magic, he had had to put acquiring them on hold, instead, he started small with the least dangerous and made his way up.

He had to show his face to some; call in favors with others and sometimes he had to even pay a few bribes but slowly he had acquired necessary licenses. Though he had decided to postpone buying the creatures until he had the zoo constructed and had proper handlers at hand; after all, he didn't want to start off his zoo with accidents.

Harry's musing was broken by Dobby as he appeared with a pop. The elf shifted uneasily on his feet before looking up at Harry with guilty eyes. The eccentric elf then placed a piece of parchment on Harry's desk and disappeared silently before Harry could even ask what the matter was.

Sighing at the dramatics, Harry read the message and winced. _'Daphne was angry,' _he concluded_, 'very, very angry.'_

The parchment read, _"Send your elf on the morning of eighth, Mr. Potter."_

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

7th February 2011

After sending Teddy to school, Harry decided it was time to tell Alice about Daphne; her maybe tutor.

Calling up the vampire to tell her the news would have been a simple affair, if Alice hadn't squealed out loud in excitement -promptly cutting him off- before racing off for his home; it was only due to Edward's sensibilities that Harry was even aware of the unscheduled visit.

Standing on his porch, with his hands crossed, Harry was waiting for the pixie-esque vampire with more than a little annoyance. His wards notified him of the incoming undead before he even had the chance to notice the vampire who arrived in a blur of speed. The blur halted in front of him, only to reveal Alice, bouncing with more energy than her tiny body should be able to contain.

"Where?" Alice asked as she bounced with unrestrained energy, "Where is my tutor? Finally, finally someone who I can discuss fashion with! Some who wasn't an old grouch…"

Harry ignored the comment and let Alice get ramble off; he did not want to waste his energy on a task he had learned to be fruitless; besides, the more she rambled, the more she delayed the news of her eminent disappointment.

When Alice finally decided to shut up, she asked, "So where is my tutor? Where is she? Tell me already! Why are you silent? Speak up already!"

"If you had just waited for me to finish," Harry answered with a little annoyance, "You would have known that she would arrive tomorrow; not today."

Alice stopped bouncing and pouted, "How was I supposed to know?" She questioned innocently, all the while looking like a kicked puppy, "It's not as if I can see what you'd tell me." She finished dejectedly; it still pinched Alice that she couldn't see Harry's future as whenever she tried, all she saw was pitch black darkness. She sighed in annoyance.

"Anyway," Harry continued as he ignored the sad puppy dog eyes Alice was targeting him with, "if everything goes well, your tutor will start tomorrow and then you will be able to visit the magical world of the colonies."

Harry's answer resulted in a squeal from Alice, which was loud enough to cause dogs in Texas to cringe in pain, of that Harry was sure.

"There is no need to be happy this soon Mrs. Cullen." His said with an innocent smile; something that caused Alice's smile to drop from her face as she narrowed her eyes and eyed the wizard suspiciously, "Only when your teacher feels that you are can pass off as a witch," Harry said, causing apprehension to fill the air, "Will you set your foot anywhere near a magical market."

"What! No!" Alice nearly cried in dismay, "I can't wear these rags anymore!" Alice exclaimed and continued as her voice turned dreamy, "Not after I have felt the wonders of Arcomantula silk... I wonder what fairy silk will feel like… or Fairy Dust…. Ooooh I bet it will be soft, so so soft…" Harry tuned her out –again- as Alice continued to gush.

When Alice finally fell silent, he spoke again, "If you were to go a magical market now," Harry continued, ignoring the previous gushing as if it never happened, "You will more than likely do nothing but gape like a bloody first year; which will do nothing but draw suspicion; not something we want," He finished sternly.  
"Hey!" Alice objected heatedly, "I can control myself!" Harry didn't deem the statement worthy enough of an answer and graced the vampire with his best unimpressed look. "Fine…fine!" Alice huffed, "But once I get an okay, you'll be taking me shopping as much as I want."

"Very funny Alice," Harry replied dryly, "I won't be agreeing to any such thing. But if you wish to go to the market, I will arrange suitable chaperones."

"Chaperones!" Alice repeated in disbelief and indignation.

"Chaperones." Harry repeated as if agreeing, ignoring the indignation completely. Alice pointed her finger at Harry, accusingly and indignantly, and tried to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. Finally she huffed out, "Fine!"

Harry smiled. 'Ah, good old revenge!'

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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P.S. Please review in the spirit of Christmas and New Year.


	7. Arc: The W(B)itch Part 1

A/N: Hello everyone! So this chapter introduced Daphne and I loved how she turned out. This is actually how I have always imagined her to be: mean, vicious, softy and lovable. Oh, but considering the first half of the chapter, you people might not like her.

So as I said, while writing Daphne, I fell in love with her, I truly did; so much so, that I wanted to turn Harry bi and marry them both. Ooh wouldn't they'd make just the cutest couple!

Ah! Fangirling right now!

So…yeah, that happened. *Hides behind the bushes*

* * *

**8****th**** February, 2005**

**11 : 00 AM**

Knowing that today would be a very busy day, what with Daphne's arrival and then her subsequent meeting with Alice, Harry had closed off the diner for the day, claiming that he was sick; he, after all, did not want a repeat of the last time.

"Dobby!" Harry summoned the little elf after he had sent Teddy off to the school; he had no intention of mentally scarring the boy by introducing him to an irate Daphne; that might just prove too traumatizing for the poor child.

The elf arrived with his signature pop and greeted Harry with his distinct greeting, "Master Harry Potter master sir called?"

Harry forced a smile on his face, "Ah yes, Dobby," He answered, "Will you go to Miss Daphne and bring her here?"

The elf's exited ears wilted at the request and he bowed his head, "Misses Daphne Madam not happy with Master Harry Potter sir." The elf replied sadly before popping away. If Daphne was furious enough that it had affected Dobby's mood, then only Gods could save him now. Harry shivered in fear as he felt anxiousness creep up on him.

Nervous and worried, Harry started pacing in an effort to curb his nerves. Daphne, the woman that he knew, was a vindictive, unforgiving and a merciless little bitch; it was for this reason that they both got along so well.

Another pop signaled the arrival of his guest and his elf, though Dobby did not wait for Harry to dismiss him and made himself scarce as soon as possible. _'Smart little bugger, that elf.'_

Harry swallowed and turned to face his guest who, incidentally, was paying him not a least bit of attention. Dressed in a bluish white gown, with her long hairs braided to perfection, the blue eyed beauty would have been a sight for sore eyes had she not been wearing her famous blank expression or as Harry had aptly named it, her 'bitch face'.

'It's wonderful to see you Daphne..." Harry greeted as he forced himself to smile, trying to suppress his nerves, "…It's been quite some time."

Harry's words fell on deaf ears as Daphne continued on with her scrutiny of his adobe. She took in every little detail that his house had to provide and then butchered them in her mind with criticism; knowing her as well he did, Harry could see it all happening behind her cold eyes.

"How…" Daphne finally broke the silence as her inspection came to an end, "…quaint."

With those words and polite tone, somehow Daphne managed to convey all her disdain and her condescension. Harry's eyebrow tried to twitch in annoyance but he controlled himself. _'This was Daphne just venting out her anger and frustration,'_ He told himself, _'there is no need for me to react to her words and provocations because that's just what she wants.'_

Daphne knew that her words had hit home; Harry had always been territorial and defensive of his possessions, no matter how ugly and horrendous they were; an unexpected consequence of being raised in Dursley household where he had few to no possession to call his own.

Not even a little mollified, she smiled sweetly, portraying herself as the very picture of innocence, thus irritating Harry even more. The boy greatly disliked pretense and preferred to be blunt and forceful; a somewhat expected consequence of Weasley trying to be Harry's friend for the boy-who-lived's fame and later ousting himself over his petty jealousy.

Harry couldn't control it anymore and his eyebrow twitched in annoyance, which in turn irritated him even more because he knew that the observant witch saw it and enjoyed his irritation and annoyance. His eyebrow twitched further in annoyance and he felt his frustration grow, not at Daphne but at himself for failing to control his reactions.

Such was the effect that Daphne had on people.

"Daphne," Harry forced himself to be polite, "How have you been?"

Such a simple question and its answer would have been simple too, if the answerer had been anyone but Daphne. The witch in question gave Harry a onceover, before giving him a gentle smile, "Better," She answered easily. Though she hadn't said it, the 'than you' was heard loud and clear.

"Must we play these silly games?" Harry addressed his guest as he huffed in annoyance.

"What games Mr. Potter?" Daphne raised an eyebrow in question, "I have not the slightest inkling what you are talking about."

Harry gave his guest a flat look, "Sure you don't." Daphne just smiled sweetly.

"Would you quit doing that?!" Harry snapped, "It's fooling no one."

'_Then it's achieving its aim perfectly,'_ Daphne thought as she continued smiling her sweet gentle smile.

"Shall I bring out board games that Teddy favors?" Harry tried to break Daphne out of her stupor, "Because, apparently, we are doing that now."

"Ah yes," Daphne's lips twitched just a touch, telling Harry all that he needed to know; Daphne was going in for the kill, Harry knew that for a fact "…the warewolf. How is _it_? You were always a little too …oddly attached to that creature."

Harry's temper flared instantly.

He knew that Daphne had said that just to rile him up. He knew that Daphne liked Teddy just as much he did; she had babysat the boy one too many times to not to. He knew that Daphne was a vindictive bitch. He knew that Daphne knew all his buttons and was pushing them. He knew that Daphne had gone for that blow just because the woman knew that it would hurt Harry the most. He knew all that and he knew much more but that didn't stop his anger from rising.

Targeting Teddy and calling him a creature was a low blow; way too low a blow. He had killed people for less.

Daphne smiled a true smile as she watched Harry's anger flare up like fireworks; bright and all over the place. She sat down gracefully, knowing that it would fester Harry's anger even more if she made herself comfortable, in his house, after she had just insulted the boy who he considered as nothing less than his son.

She smiled genuinely. The bastard deserved all she was giving him.

"If…if you had been anyone else..." Harry said through clenched teeth, his anger taking control of him, "...you wouldn't have been alive to finish that sentence."

Daphne dropped her smile and gave Harry an onceover, "What's stopping you now?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow in question, "It's not as if you care about us."

"You go too far Daphne..." Harry warned his guest, "Don't bring Teddy into this."

The witch in question laughed; she laughed an ugly, malicious laugh. "…I'd thought you knew this about me." She whispered, softly, slowly and seductively, "Nothing's too far for me Potter..." She continued whispering and she gave Teddy's picture a glance, "…not even that beast."

"**Daphne!**" Harry growled out as his anger got the better of him and he unconsciously began harnessing the magic of his magical animagus' forms; i.e. he began slipping into the stage three of his powers. Not even waiting for a moment, the witch took out her wand and fired an ugly purple curse at her host the moment she felt his control slip.

Now, normally that spell would have had not a single chance of hitting its target while Harry had been in stage three of his magics. But the thing was, Harry had –as of yet- not activated his power; he had been in the process of doing so when Daphne had fired off her curse.

And though Harry had extensive wards on his home, but after he had come to know about the presence of vampires in the town, he had modified them to target the undead specifically; thus Daphne's spell met no resistant as it sailed towards its target. Besides, the distance between the magicals was small enough that the spell had hit its mark before Harry could do anything.

The moment Daphne's spell connected with Harry, the wizard felt a powerful kick hitting him in the nuts and he fell over, rolling in pain; all the magic, that Harry had been building up within him, vanished without as much as a puff of smoke. It was as if a centaur had put all its force behind that one kick.

The wizard had not even finished rolling over once when he felt another kick –just as powerful as the one before- hitting him in the groin and he doubled over as he was consumed by the pain. There was just pain that he felt; pain and nothing else.

Daphne sat there, enjoying the cries of agony from her latest prey; the high of the hunt made the lynx animagus feel giddy inside. And though she had always had a little bit of sadistic streak, that little manifestation had only been amplified with her turning into the animagus and that too a cat animagus; cats were known for playing with their food before killing them off and –unfortunately for Harry- that characteristics had passed onto Daphne rather beautifully.

Daphne enjoyed the cries and moans of her friend and summoned her elf to have her afternoon tea. A Brit needs her tea after all.

The scene was so utterly ridiculous that it would have made anyone scratch their heads in confusion; there was the host, lying on the floor, rolling and moaning in pain and agony while his guest, at the same time, sat nearby drinking tea with a satisfied expression plastered on her face.

It was so bizarre.

It was so weird.

It was so Harry and Daphne.

* * *

It took Harry quite some time to gain control of his motor abilities, and even then, he couldn't walk properly; and when he tried, he cried out in pain; something which was followed –every time- by cursing a certain witch's name; while the witch in question would just giggle like a teenager at the expletives.

"Ah…curse..you..Ah…Daph..ne!" Harry groaned and cursed as he tried to walk but the best he could manage was a crouched crawl. "Ah…curse…you..to…Ah…deepest…pits..of..Hell..Ah!"

"Are you trying to be cute Harry?" Daphne giggled; her enjoyment dancing off of her very voice, "Because you certainly look so at the moment."

"Oh… fuck… you!" Harry mouthed out as he seated himself –with great effort- on the sofa; he didn't even have the energy to voice his insult.

"I might had if you weren't bent," Daphne dropped the innuendo casually; implying about Harry's curved dick that she had seen during their first ritual that had been powered by the magic released during sex, "but I prefer my men straight."

"Was that the best… that you could… come up with?" Harry said as he shot his best friend an annoyed look; that joke had gotten old a long time ago. "Besides… I might not do… any fucking… because of what… you have done."

"Do you want me try more?" Daphne asked with a soft smile, "And no, you will be fine. The spell does not imparts damage to your jewels; just the sensation."

"That's good… to know." Harry sighed in relief and Daphne gave him an angelic smile. A smile that warned Harry of all the upcoming horrors, "Oh no…no…" The wizard was instantly on edge, "What else… did… you do?"

"Just a nightly visitor…" The woman whispered softly; seductively, "…to remind you of me."

Harry squawked out in pain and in horror, "That spell… the kicking one… that will… hit me daily… in the balls? Twice?"

"My! What a clever little boy!" Daphne's condescension could not have been more visible, "If only you had used that rusted dumb-box of yours before you had left!"

"You…can't be… serious!" Harry cried out in fear.

"Of course I am not," Daphne answered with a straight face, "That was your godfather."

"Please no… no… just no." Harry hid his face in his hands; already imagining the horror.

He knew that Daphne had told him, what she had done to him, easily; way too easily. It meant just one thing; the witch had told him so that he would anticipate and fear the activation of the spell all day long. So that he would fear the spell not just at the time when it would activate but fear its activation throughout the day by just imagining what he would experience at night. _'That bitch!'_

* * *

**A Couple of Hours Later.**

After taking copious amounts of pain reliever potions –none of which Daphne had helped retrieve and the wizard had to call in Dobby for help- Harry was finally able to walk again, though not without a slight limp. Daphne, in the meantime, had decided to show herself around and was exploring his house, greenhouse, garden and the forest.

Soft footsteps and a clatter through the door drew Harry's attention and what he saw, made him laugh. All three of his lion cubs, now healthy due to various potions that Harry had fed them, were following –like a line of ducklings- the flying black winged lynx; i.e. Daphne in her magical animagus form.

The cubs would try to swat at Daphne's tail whenever she flew a little too low and dangled her tail in front of the cub's faces but they would always miss as Daphne would pull up at the last moment or twitch her tail in another direction. The resulting meows and howls of dismay were adorable.

And Daphne –being Kneezle obsessed creature that she was- flew low again and again, teasing the cubs and trying to incite them into following her; which they innocently did. If it were up to Daphne, she would do nothing but play with her cats. Such was her love for the feline that in the presence of one, the vindictive and manipulative witch, melted like butter as her brain turned to mush.

Thus it had not been a surprise when her animagus form had turned out to be a cat; or a lynx to be precise. Daphne, unlike him, had only one animagus form and thus only one magical animagus form too. Her normal animagus form of the lynx granted her the magical form of a black-furred-blue-eyed winged lynx.

Daphne loved that form more than anything else and –being a show off that she was- transformed more often than not into her magical form rather than her normal one; though this could also be due to the ability to fly that her magical form possessed but Harry was not entirely convinced by that line of reasoning and still leaned towards narcissism being the reason.

Harry smiled as Daphne flew by him with the cubs trying and failing to swat her tail. Every time he saw her playing with her cats and kneezles –of which she owned several- in her animagus for, Harry felt glad that he had decided to teach Daphne animagus transformations; even if she had been pants at it.

Because though it had been Daphne who had found the notes on the process in the Black Library, it was Harry who had taught Daphne the method of achieving normal animagus and magical animagus transformations. He had, also, guided her through the process so that she didn't lose herself to the magic of her magical animal. And it was not that Daphne had forced or asked Harry to, he had done it on his own; something that he knew Daphne had appreciated very much.

Now, why had Harry practically forced Daphne into mastering animagus transformations? It was because Harry had always felt that he owed he who was, at least partially, to Daphne.

The girl had taken him under her wings when he had been new to the magical world and made his transition smooth. Who knows what else it might have led to, if she hadn't? He might have not even known that wizards consider muggle clothes as worse than rags. He cringed just thinking about what would have happened if he appeared, in a formal setting, dressed in muggle clothes.

Now, sure he had been smart and a prodigy; sure Daphne had her own reasons for doing so; but all that did not discount the fact that Daphne had been his first friend and had gone way out of her way to make his arrival in the magical world a comfortable one.

It was Daphne who had taught him occlumency when he had complained about headache after the first day of school and had forced him to learn leglimency when he had shown talent for the mind arts; something that had proved very useful in the war.

It was, also, her who had also introduced him to all the does and don't does of the Wizarding culture so that he might not make a fool of himself or insult someone by committing some faux pas; not his other friends, not his teachers, not Dumbledore, no one else but her. She even had stood up to Dumbledore when the old coot had tried to subtly warn her off.

She had always stood by his side; supporting him whenever the need be.

Daphne had, also, been instrumental in Harry's fight against Voldemort and the boy's subsequent win. After all, it had been her who had researched the rituals that they both had used; Harry had not even known that rituals actually existed. And when Harry had been reluctant to employ some of the shadier ones –the one that included animal sacrifice and such- it had been her who had convinced him.

Then there was the thing about how she had handled his sexuality. He had been mortally afraid of it and as a result had tried closing himself off. But Daphne would have none of it. The girl had kicked his arse three ways to Sunday and had called him out on him being gay. She had also told him that homosexuality was not such a taboo in the magical world because most of the witches and wizards followed the Olde Religions rather than the modern muggle ones.

Besides the above points, they both had also shared some very intimate moments together; though a few had been in the time period when Harry had been trying to know who he was or what he was, most had been during the rituals that needed magic released during sex; both of them had not trusted anyone else for the job.

Harry had been reluctant at first –considering that he was gay and did not want to the world to know about it- but Daphne had put those worries to rest by convincing him to do those rituals together. As a result they both had been the ones to take each other's virginities.

Thus helping Daphne obtain her magical animagus transformation had been his way of thanking her; not that the witch had taken it that way. The woman had been over the moon about her animagus form being a cat –being a Kneezle obsessed maniac that she was- and had not even given a single thought about being a magical animagus.

Thus when Harry had mentioned it, she had grouched about being forced to do useless work –as she was not very good at transfiguration- but that had lasted only until she learned that her magical animagus was a flying cat. He had never, in his life, seen Daphne more motivated to achieve something.

* * *

A/N: Anyway, originally I had planned to get Daphne and Jacob together but considering how my Daphne has turned out, she'll chew the boy and spit him out before he could as much as say 'Bella', so no, that ain't happening anymore.

Any pairing recommendations for Daphne? Just remember one little condition, do not break the canon pairings.

Also tell me, whether you like my Daphne or not? I would love to hear what you all think!

That's all. Thanks for reading.

Ooooh and comment please!

* * *

Story Recommendation: 'The road less taken' by Way Of Life. It's a two-shot dark Harry Potter MoD story. I loved reading it; you'd love it too. GO check it out.

* * *

Love it!

Hate it!

Just review and let me know!


	8. Arc: The W(B)itch Part 2

I am soooooo sorry! And embarrassed! I posted chapter 7 twice. Sorry. Here's the new chapter.

Oops.

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**A/N: **Just a few things:

This story starts three years later than canon, so Harry was born in 1983 instead of 1980; he began to Hogwarts in 1993 and graduated –yes, my Harry graduated- in 2000. As such, _Teddy was born in 2000_ _and is 5 years old in 2005._

Pairing is not something that I am focusing on, so it will be very, very slow thing; don't count on it becoming a major at any point of time. I can't write romance for shit.

Also, **HAPPY HOLI PEOPLE! **Wish you all, all the best for your lives and may your life be filled with colors and happiness. Once again, Happy Holi!

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"Harry Potter" Speaking

'_Harry Potter'_ Thinking

"_Harry Potter"_Written/Reading

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**8****th**** February, 2005**

**Continued...**

A small smile played on Harry's lips as he continued to observe Daphne and the cubs.

Watching the kneezle obsessed witch play with the cubs, without a care in the world, made it hard to believe that the adjectives regularly used to describe the same person were bigot, cruel, vicious, vindictive and manipulative.

And while Harry agreed, completely, that Daphne was all those things, he also knew that there was another side to Daphne that only a few living beings were graced with.

That another side was self-less, it was kind, it was forgiving and, above all, it was defenseless. It was all those things and much more, but, all those things were limited only to people she cared about; for the rest of the world, she was nothing but personification of all negative things that humanity had to offer.

Harry was just glad that he was one of the few people that Daphne shared her complete self with; the rest being her family. And Tracy. And her kneezles; always her kneezles.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, he did not notice when the witch in question flew by him, hitting him in the face with her tail as she did so. The meows, hisses and howls near his feet, from the scrambling cubs trying to follow the flying cat, clued him in to just what had happened.

Harry sent Daphne his most disgruntled look and then threw a strong stinging hex her way; something which the witch avoided deftly, preening all the while.

Watching the ridiculously narcissistic witch preen, Harry decided to bring up the matter of Alice and the vampires. His decision was based on the fact that he knew he won't get another chance, this easily, when Daphne was in such a good mood.

"Daphne," He called out to the cat animagus who was busy flying around his house, "Would you come here for a moment."

The interruption in her fun caught the cat animagus' attention and she drifted towards him before doing a trick in the air and melting back into her human form.

'_Show off,' _Harry rolled his eyes, _'as always.'_

"Have you finally decided to tell me," Daphne addressed him dismissively, "just why exactly, you decided to contact me after all this time?"

Harry bit back a wince; to him, her displeasure was more pronounced than Weasley matriarch's howler. "Ah… yes about that," He replied as he tried to ignore the latent anger of the witch. His initial guess about Daphne being in a good mood had been, very obviously, wrong; Daphne had not been in a good mood, she had been just pretending to be in one, "…I have a…project that I need your help with."

"Of course," Daphne answered with a straight face but Harry didn't need to hear the rest of her sentence to be hit with the heavy sarcasm that she was lacing her words with, "what else could it be?"

Harry tried to ignore the sarcasm and succeeded to some degree. "About that," Harry waved his wand and summoned the parchments relating to the store that Dobby had picked up from Andromeda's place, "I have ventured into a new line of business. Could you take a look?"

Daphne's raised an eyebrow at the declaration but received the file nonetheless. She studied it for a few moments before an incredulous expression surfaced on her face, "Apparels?" Her genuine disbelief was evident in her voice, "Of all the things."

"…I know," Harry answered, a little embarrassed at Daphne's reaction. He hadn't thought that his sponsorship of an apparel store would garner such an incredulous reaction, "though I would not be the one designing."

"Small mercy, I assure you…" Daphne replied, condescendingly, as she gave him a onceover with a small disapproving frown marring her features, making Harry feel self conscious, before returning back to the topic at hand, "…but why do you want me to meet your designer?"

'_Of course, she deduced that.'_ Harry thought dryly before answering evasively, "The designer is not exactly… familiar… with magical fashion."

The kneezle obsessed witch again raised an eyebrow at the evasion. "Did you hire a muggle?" She asked, after mentally eliminating muggleborns as an option.

"Not a muggle…" Harry dodged, causing Daphne to narrow her eyes in suspicion, "…she's a vampire."

Daphne's narrowed eyes narrowed further as she scrutinized the wizard and his rather absurd claim.

"…You are not kidding," She muttered in surprise as she realized that Harry was, indeed, telling the truth and sighed, "How do you keep involving monsters in everything that you do? First you found a half-giant and a werewolf, after that you got saddled with Teddy and now this vampire." She pinched the bridge of her nose, "What's next?" She asked rhetorically, "Shape shifters? Dwarfs?"

Harry scratched his left cheek, nervously; Daphne had come very close to the truth about the Quileute tribe and knowing the pureblood bigoted witch as much as he did, he knew that she would not take kindly to him being right in the middle of a feud between undead and shifters.

Now, like everybody else, Harry had a nervous tick too -he, subconsciously, scratched his cheek when he got flustered or nervous- and like everybody else, those close to him knew those ticks by heart; unfortunately for the poor guy, Daphne was very close to him.

So when Harry scratched his cheek, all alarms went off in Daphne's head and a calm façade drew itself over the witch's face. And slowly, a small serene smile morphed on Daphne's features causing alarm bells go off in Harry's head, this time, because he knew that this was Daphne's angry tick.

When anger bubbled in the manipulative witch, she smiled and became mean, vicious and cruel; Harry knew that little tidbit. "What else is creeping around here?" The pleasant note in Daphne's voice made Harry want to wince, "Its shifters I am guessing," the witch continued, "… after all, you wouldn't try to hide the little gold diggers from me."

Harry sighed, he almost never could hide anything from Daphne and neither could she from him; sometimes it really was a royal pain in the arse.

"The indigenous tribe here is a wolf shifter," he answered in defeat, "they think they are werewolves."

Daphne stared at him blankly; her expressionless face conveyed to Harry every horrible name that she was calling him in her mind. "So not only are they shifters but they are dumb too." She observed nonchalantly, "Did you knew this when you moved here with Teddy?" With her voice as serene as ever, she asked; all the while her hand snaked towards her wand, with a nasty curse already on the tip of her tongue.

Sensing the eminent danger he was in, Harry quickly insisted, "No, no, of course not; I knew no such thing when I moved here," He tried to placate the irate witch, "In fact, I came to know about them just a couple months ago."

Now, Daphne was a bigoted and prejudiced individual, there was no doubt about that. Thus, in her eyes, Teddy was a half-breed, a monster-spawn; something less than human. This was a fact that she and Harry both knew. But, the thing was, Harry had made his peace with it. Why? Why had he done so? He had done so because he also knew that Daphne loved the kid as much as he did.

Her love for Teddy was akin to someone taking a sick feral cat in and then nursing it back to health; no matter how much they know that it's a feral cat, they can't help but fall in love with it, yet, at the same time, the fact that it is a feral cat always remains in the back of their mind.

Thus, no matter how much Daphne had known that Teddy was a half-breed and a spawn of a werewolf, the hours that she had spent babysitting the child, had made her see that Teddy had been just a baby.

And in all the poop-cleaning and the peek-a-boos, somewhere somehow, she had grown to adore the child. Yet, she knew that Teddy was not _just another baby; _she knew that child was a half-werewolf, a monster-spawn and that was something that she just couldn't get out of her mind.

So when she came to know that Harry had continued to live in the area _for months_, with Teddy, even after knowing that there were bloodthirsty, impulsive vampires and feral, uncontrolled, unstable shifters around, she was more than a little upset.

"You knew this for months," Daphne's voice was calm, like the calm before the storm, "…and you let Teddy be here all that time?"

Sensing her rising ire, Harry backtracked, "Ah…no, I wanted to move," He quickly made up the back story; not wanting to tell Daphne that it was his curiosity that had taken priority at that moment, "but the vampires are vegetarians."

Surprised as she was, her calm demeanor broke at the unexpected answer and she snapped, "What!"

That little tidbit of information led to a lengthy explanation of everything Cullen and vegetarian vampires. Though that was not it, Daphne also managed to squeeze out information about Quileute tribe and werewolves out of Harry.

In the end, though, there was something that Daphne had to inform Harry about vampires.

"Do they know that they can't drink a wizard's blood?" The witch asked as their discussion came to an end.

"Of course, they won't attack us," Harry rolled his eyes at Daphne's insistence; no matter how tough she was, the girl did have a soft spot for him and Teddy, "they are vegetarians." He insisted.

Daphne, in her irritation over everything that she had came to know that afternoon, sent a strong stinging hex towards Harry's.

"Hey!" Harry squawked as he deftly avoided the incoming hex, showing his marvelous Quidditch skills, "What was that for?"

"Not won't, you blubbering buffoon," Yeah, the kneezle obsessed pureblood woman was still angry, and in her anger, her mask broke, "Can't. They can't drink a wizard's blood."

Harry frowned as he sat back in his seat; though, he did take out his wand, just in case, "What do you mean?" The wizard was thoroughly confused.

"Things." Daphne whispered and with a pop, Daphne's personal elf materialized with his head bowed and shoulders submissive but with his back straight and proud.

"Mistress Daphne calls Things," The elf announced politely as he straightened his posture.

"Bring me our copy of Omnia Vampiri," The witch dismissed the elf without even a glance and the elf, the loyal thing that it was, popped away before materializing again with a leather book in his hands.

"Here it is, mistress." The elf placed the book on the table and popped away when Daphne dismissed it with another wave of her hand.

The book, brought by the elf, was the very definition of ancient; its lather had blackened and hardened with age and though magic had keep it free from dust and most other elements of time, its age still showed in the curling of leather sheets that were its pages.

With the departure of her elf, Daphne took out her wand and waved it to flip open the book to the pages that she wanted. And with another wave, she floated the book towards Harry, "Look at that." The order was very clear.

Harry rolled his eyes; the book was, obviously, very old and written in old Latin. And while he and Daphne, both, had learned Latin to help them with their spells, it was still impractical of her to expect from him to try to read old Latin, of all things.

Intending to cast a translation charm on the book, Harry began waving his wand but considering the relative age of the book –and wanting to avoid any manhandling that might happen- he digressed and created its copy instead. Using the translation charm on the copy, he began reading.

"_Lure of the Damned:_

_Vampires are creatures bound to the desire of their tongues and are slaves to the call of blood. They, in their eternal existences, often come across individuals whose call of blood is so strong, that a desire to resist it, doesn't even begin to form in their cold dead hearts and whenever they happen to cross roads with the scent of such an individual, death descends upon those unfortunate souls._

_This curse is designed to prey upon this weakness._

_One cursed with the Lure of the Damned will have their blood and scent changed to that of a singer; their scent will be as sweet, to all the vampires, as that of a vampire's singer. Their demise would be promised._

_Even wizards will fall prey to this curse; it neutralizes the ability of wizard's blood that causes it to be a lethal toxin for vampires."_

Incredulity expressed itself over Harry's features, "Is any of this true?"

"The curse?" Daphne, absentmindedly, waved her wand and floated the book back to her before activating a rune array on its spine, causing it glow softly and vanish, "Fortunately yes. Old Doge wouldn't have let you be the legend you are now otherwise."

"That was you." A surprised yelp escaped the wizard before he calmed down, "Huh. I should have known; his demise was … rather comfortable for me."

"Yes, you should have," Daphne gave him a look that said he had been exceptionally slow to not have inferred that already, "And didn't the ministry later found the vampire in excruciating pain from the _'poison'_ that Doge had consumed?"

"Ah," Harry's remembered with amusement, "Ministry had theorized, at the time, that Doge had his suspicions about the vampire and had consumed a potion, of some sort, to ward off the undead."

"Yes," Daphne mused out with a hint of delight in her voice, "the experts of ministry are such … experts."

Harry laughed at the dryness of the woman's tone. "I should probably tell the Cullens about this," Harry broke out of his nostalgia and picked up the phone, "Though Carlisle is quite old, he might already know about it."

"I doubt it," Daphne countered dismissively. "He didn't know anything about us, did he now?"

"There is that," Harry conceded the point, "though it would be quiet interesting to see how they react to the news."

A mischief shined in Daphne's eyes at Harry's comment, "Why don't you let that bit to me." She suggested, though, to Harry it seemed more like an order.

The wizard, knowing that Daphne was planning something, just rolled his eyes at her antics and put the phone down.

Their conversation was cut short, at that moment, by a knock on the door and shuffling of small feet. "It's Teddy," The wards around the house had previously informed Harry of Teddy's eminent arrival, "he's back from school."

A small smile graced Daphne's lips at the announcement as Harry waved his wand to open the door, "In here," He hollered, "and there someone here who wants to meet you."

The shuffling noises stopped, for a moment, at Harry's yelling before being picked up again, but, fast and reckless this time as the child ran to meet the stranger in his house. Though, as soon as the child's eyes fell on Daphne, his face turned redder than a tomato in full bloom and he ran to towards Harry, trying to hide behind his father's chair.

"Don't be shy," Harry laughed at Teddy's behavior; the child was being abnormally shy, "Come and say Hello to Aunt Daphne."

Teddy peeked from behind the chair, took a look at Daphne, and –again- hid behind Harry with an 'eep'. Harry laughed loudly at his son's behavior, much to Teddy's distress as the 5 year old squirmed in displeasure and hit Harry with his tiny little fists in protest. Harry on the other hand, having had enough of his son's newfound shyness, picked up the little rascal and placed the boy in front of him.

"Now, this is aunt Daphne," Harry pointed at Daphne as he tried to hold back his laugh, "Say Hello to her."

"… …" Teddy tried to say something but in the end just mumbled inaudibly at the suggestion.

Daphne smiled a true smile at the scene before leaving her seat and crouching to come to Teddy's level. Smiling gently, she took Teddy's hand in hers, "Hello Teddy," she shook the boy's hand, "Nice to meet you."

"…you are so pretty," Teddy mumbled, all of a sudden, before his expression became quite similar to that of a deer caught in the headlight.

Daphne laughed lightly, the sound gentle and innocent; though Harry knew the truth behind the sound and just how malicious it could turn. "Not following in your father's footsteps are you?" She teased, softly enough that only Harry could hear her, and gave Harry a look; the wizard, though, seemed less flustered and more annoyed at Daphne's remark.

"I have been told, yes," Ignoring Harry's grumpy look, Daphne prodded the 5 year old softly. "I am your daddy's friend, aunt Daphne and I took care of you when you were little while your daddy was busy fighting off people trying to destroy our way of life."

Teddy looked up, from beneath his lashes, at the bizarre explanation while Harry just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Daphne, thoroughly unconcerned by Harry's reaction, put her index finger beneath the boys chin and gently lifted his head up, trying to commit the boys face to memory.

"Are you, perhaps, wearing a glamour ring?" She questioned noticing the subtle change of skin coloration near Teddy's jaw line and cheek bones.

"…Yes," Teddy answered in a small voice, still embarrassed. "…Da gave it to me."

"Take it off child," She suggested, though her voice was strong enough to make it an order, "and let me see what you have grown into."

At Daphne's strong tone of voice, Harry hit the witch at the back of her head, causing her to backtrack, "What I meant was, would you take it off for your Aunt Daphne?"

Teddy turned his head to look at Harry, asking for permission, and got a smiling nod in response. Nodding back, Teddy slowly took off his ring, revealing pink haired red faced child. Unable to resist, Daphne burst into laughter.

Teddy, being the adorable kid he was, did not like that; he did not like it one bit.

"Hey!" Teddy jumped back, annoyed at Daphne's laughter, and brandished his finger at the cat animagus, waved it angrily all the while; all his shyness vanishing like it was never there, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing…nothing," Daphne tried to mollify the angry child but the damage had already been done. "I was just laughing at your Da; yes your Da. He was making weird faces at me... yes, he was."

"Don't drag me into it," Harry nonchalantly answered from behind, earning a scowl from the witch for his troubles.

Teddy, who had been paying attention to both Harry and Daphne, looked at Daphne shiftily, "He wasn't was he?" He questioned with narrowed eyes.

"He was, he sure was," Daphne nodded her head exaggeratedly, "He pranks you doesn't he? He was pranking me just now."

Teddy shifted his gaze to Harry and gave his Da a shifty look; the child could totally believe that his weird Da would so something stupid like that.

"Hey!" Harry objected loudly; he was more than a little annoyed that Teddy had believed Daphne with nary an effort on the woman's part, "I always own up to my pranks."

Teddy was now again looking at Daphne shiftily, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He finally decided that he had better things to do and huffed, "I don't wanna know."

"…So," Daphne stared at Teddy with hungry eyes, "…cute!" she shrieked and caught Teddy in his arms; smothering the child as she did so.

"Kyaa! So cute…," she shrieked again as she rubbed her cheek against the boy's, while Teddy squirmed and tried his uttermost to free himself, "lemme goooo," the boy shrieked back as he tried to push Daphne's face away from his, "lemme gooo you craaaazy womaaan!"

"Kyyaaa! How can you be so cuuuuute?!" Daphne shrieked back as she ignored the child's wishes and continued to hug him to the very inch of his life; said child, in the meantime, tried his best to escape, "You mad witch, lemme me goooo!" He shrieked as he tried to use his hands and his legs to free himself from the she-demon's clutches.

Harry, on the other hand, just sweat dropped.

Here was the utterly evil witch, who killed people willy-nilly, hugging Teddy to death. He was, very strongly, reminded of anime shows where the female protagonists behave similarly when they come across ultra-cute things. And while he was sure that Teddy could fill in the role of ultra-cute thing, he strongly doubted that Daphne could ever be a protagonist of anime show who hugs cute things.

So he just sweat dropped.

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**A/N: **Truth be told, I am pretty satisfied by how this chapter turned out. I think I was able to flesh out Daphne's character a little bit more, which I failed to do in the last chapter, as the last chapter had been focusing, majorly, on her relationship with Harry.

So, I honestly don't expect you people to like Daphne, but if you do, then welcome to the Club of the Twisted People! You guys are like me!

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Love it?

Hate it?

Just review and let me know!


	9. Arc: The W(B)itch Part 3

"Harry Potter" Speaking

'_Harry Potter'_ Thinking

"_Harry Potter"_Written/Reading

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**8****th**** February, 2005**

**Continued…**

Two sets of eyes, blue and green, stared at each other; one filled with nonchalance and indifference, while the other, brimming with surprise and bewilderment.

Such was the absurdity of the situation, in which they had found themselves entangled in, that they both waited for the other to continue, yet, none of them did; thus the impasse continued.

They stared down each other for a few more moments, but finally the ludicrousness of the proposed idea hit home to one of them. "Have you gone complete bonkers?" The surprised exclamation escaped from Harry because of the insanely absurd plan that Daphne had come up with, "That is an insane thing to do!"

The witch, in question, didn't deem the question worthy of an answer and ignored the poor wizard; who, realizing that this wasn't going to work, took another route, "Not only would you be endangering yourself," Harry's eyebrows scrunched in worry, "you'd be risking Teddy and my safety too."

"I can very well take care of myself, there's never been a doubt about that," Daphne countered with a flat stare; she had no intention of backing down on this, because, as far as she was concerned, something like this had been long overdue. "You, on the other hand, have continued to live in this creature infested corner of the colonies. Was it while you risked both your lives?" Yeah, the witch hadn't missed the fact that Harry had continued to live in Forks even after knowing about presence of both vampires and shifters.

And she was pissed about that.

Harry pursed his lips, his bluff had been called; Teddy and he wouldn't be in any danger –real or otherwise- as Harry had taken enough precaution for that. But that didn't mean that he wanted Daphne to implement her ridiculous idea. "This is more than a little extreme…" He tried to change the direction of the conversation, "…even for you."

Daphne raised an elegant eyebrow at the proclamation; she could name quite a few situations, much more extreme than this, in which Harry had thrown himself; trying to face a thousand year Basilisk with a conjured rooster was just one such thing. And if Daphne hadn't thwarted that idiotic idea and replaced it with a better one of her own, then who knew, Harry might have just ended up fighting the basilisk with a bird and sword; or some such nonsense.

So instead of justifying herself, Daphne turned the table, "If you hadn't gone soft on them and done what had to be done," just a touch of coolness entered Daphne's voice as her displeasure became clear, "then I wouldn't have to undertake such measures."

Harry frowned as his move backfired, though it was of little surprise as Daphne had always been better at manipulation than him. It had been her, after all, who had shown him the ropes of trickery and manipulation.

"I didn't go soft on them," Harry defended his actions, all the while knowing that he had indeed gone soft on Cullens; how could he have not, the poor vampires tried to be vegetarians! "There hadn't been no need; not even a single _animal attack _had been reported in the area."

Daphne looked at the wizard quizzically as if genuinely asking, _'Are you just acting stupid or were you born this way?'_

Ignoring the look, Harry pinned Daphne with a flat stare of his own; he could be stubborn when he wanted to and he almost always wanted to when it came to creatures.

"You… are a bleeding heart; for creatures, of course." Daphne managed to fill the simple sentence with all her condescension and then some more, "You wouldn't even have dug a little deeper, if it meant, that your precious vegetarian vampires' claim would fall short of truth."

Harry bit back a wince.

"I took all necessary precautions," he answered as he faked nonchalance, after all, Daphne was right; he hadn't done a thorough check. All he had done was use Leglimency on Chief Swan while talking about animal attack, a subject he had randomly brought up in one of their conversations.

Noticing the word play, Daphne narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

At that very moment, Harry felt a subtle, almost feather light, probe of Leglimency bypassing his shields. Narrowing his own eyes in return, Harry projected an image, on Daphne's probe, of Weasley and her putting the best porn actors to shame.

The probe retreated far faster than it had entered his mind while he received a dirty look from the witch for his troubles; something which didn't deter the smug satisfaction that he felt even a single bit.

"There was no need to project me in your fantasies," Daphne tried to answer coolly but failed miserably and it came out more of as a hiss of an angry cat than a human's angry whisper. Needless to say, Daphne was not a fan of the blood traitor redhead.

"Then believe me when I tell you something," the wizard smirked, "I might just be telling the truth."

"I might," The witch composed herself, "if you weren't a kind hearted fool and a pathetic liar," Daphne bit back the smug smile and raised an elegant eyebrow, instead, at the surprised expression which appeared on Harry's face at the announcement, "What?" Her condescension could not have been clearer, "Did you really believe that I backed down without getting what I wanted?"

Harry grimaced; he should have known better. Now, that he had been caught lying, there was no way in seven Sundays that Daphne would listen to him, and it was just out of spite; she was petty like that.

"You should learn to distrust monsters and creatures," Daphne cold voice expressed her displeasure for her, "They are called, what they are called, for a reason. It goes against their very nature to be civilized; the sooner you understand that the better."

Harry made a face. "Meh mehmeh meh meh," Was his mature reply.

Daphne rolled her eyes at the display and hit Harry with the curse 'Lure of the Damned' followed by a 'Blood transfusion' charm, which, she linked to herself.

After the uncomfortable feeling of one's entire blood being exchanged instantly subsided, Daphne activated her own stage three, i.e. she activated all the rituals that Harry and she had performed on themselves and absorbed the magic of her magical animagus form, i.e. the winged lynx.

With her scheme finally in motion, she whispered, "Cullen's location." Not waiting for the answer, as it hadn't been a question, the witch used Leglimency on the wizard before rotating on the spot and apparating to her destination.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Cullen Household.**

The Cullen household, even though situated in the middle of a forest, was enveloped, as always, in an all encompassing blanket of eerie silence. The animals -big and small- and the insects -small and tiny- refused to come near it and didn't even dare to venture near the apex predators that their senses warned them of off.

So when a pop, albeit a small one, resounded in the hushed stillness, it reverberated louder than a lion's roar in the uncanny quietness, causing the vampires to jerk in surprise and go still.

Carlisle frowned a little; suitably surprised by the unexpected sound and the _ba-dump ba-dump _of the beating heart that followed it, but waited for the uninvited guest to announce himself. For a human to come this close to their house, without tipping them off, was not only unexpected but also a huge security threat.

A sound of clothes shuffling, trailed the continuous rhythm of the beating heart, as the person moved. The dried petals crunched as the footsteps fell on them lightly, crushing them.

'_Woman,'_ Carlisle decided by the soft noise and walked into the hall where the rest of the family was already present; or at least those that weren't out hunting were. He looked at Alice quizzically, wanting to ask the resident oracle about their guest, but, the vampire in question had a blank expression spread over her beautiful features; she was already searching the future.

Giving up on that route, he turned towards Edward, wanting to ask the mind reader about the thoughts of their guest, instead, he found the vampire frowning heavily.

"I can't find her mind and Alice can't see the future." The only vampire of Cullen cover who was single, muttered in frustration, which was understandable considering that firstly he hadn't been able to read Swan's mind, then Harry's and now this woman's, "Just what is going on?"

Carlisle's frown deepened in worry before an idea popped in his head. He turned towards Edward, who nodded, reading the doctor's mind.

Edward then, again, began searching for their guest's mind, just as he had done when he had encountered Harry for the first time in the forest, and soon he his search yielded result as he found an absence and emptiness that was very similar to what he associated with Harry's mind.

"It's a witch." Edward confirmed before frowning in disapproval. It seemed, to him at least, that Alice had grown on Harry more than he had thought; after all, the wizard had sent Alice's chaperone uninvited; something that Alice was quite known for doing.

Anyway, a few moments passed before their uninvited guest knocked on their door and Carlisle, wanting to maintain the façade of normalcy, waited for another few moments before pasting a charming smile on his face and opening the door; after all, he wanted to leave a good first expression on the witch.

Meanwhile, in the time that it took the door to open completely, Carlisle started, and finished, his analysis of the witch standing at his doorstep. With blue eyes and blonde hair, the witch was indeed beautiful; perhaps even on the same level as Rosalie when the vampire had been human.

But that's where the similarities ended.

While Rosalie had an air of naiveté and pride around her, when she had been human, this woman had nothing but coldness surrounding her. Her eyes, cold and cruel, seemed to be filled with the eternal patience of a predator, waiting to pounce on its next prey, while her posture, screamed pride and arrogance. The upward twitch of her lips –Carlisle didn't even want to classify it as a smile- was malicious and degrading, making her intent clear; she did not like them, at all.

A light breeze drifted in as the door completely opened, bringing with it the scent of the woman standing at the door. The scent itself was peculiar; it was sweet, weirdly so, and slowly –ever so slowly- changing and getting sweeter, though, there was another part which far outweighed the sweetness. It was scent of a predator that lingered around the woman.

The scent of a predatory feline seemed to be the integral part of the woman, yet, it didn't make the woman smell horrendous like the scent of the wolf did to the shifters of Quileute tribe; instead, it made the scent even more tantalizing. And then there was the scent of blood that lingered around the woman; as if, recently, death had occurred by her hands and blood had been spilt.

The amalgamation of odors, that was the witch's scent, comprised of unordinary sweetness, predator's essence and blood. This woman was dangerous, her scent almost whispered.

The witch, in question, looked past the 400 year old vampire standing in the doorway, ignoring him, and took in the scene behind him, before she came to some conclusion and her eyes returned to Carlisle.

"Hello." Carlisle greeted with a smile; even though a little bit of annoyance had crept up in him at the witch's impertinent dismissal, he masterfully hid it, after all, that had been her intention, "Can I do something for you?"

Daphne gave Carlisle a slow onceover before her face distorted slightly, very slightly, in revulsion. "This would be the liar of Cullen Coven," The soft and careless voice was heard by all the vampires, offending all of them instantly.

"Harry sent you, I presume?" Carlisle questioned as he smiled at the insult and received a nod in return; the witch had an agenda, he was sure about that, and he had no intention of walking right into her trap. "I am Carlisle Cullen, doctor at the local hospital," Carlisle deflected expertly, "And this would be my home, yes." He corrected with a genial smile.

Daphne gave Carlisle a look of careful consideration; she hadn't missed the wordplay and knew that the ancient vampire was onto her scheme, yet, the rest of the vampires didn't seem to have realized the same thing. _'This leader isn't as mindless as I had expected,' _she noted, _'but the rest seem to be.'_

Carlisle smiled politely at the careful look and invited her in.

The woman analyzed everything that her eyes fell on with careful consideration and in minute detail; for she believed that a person's home was a direct door to their mind. And, if the coven leader was to be believed, this was the vampires' home.

Scrutinizing everything that she could, Daphne sat down on the couch, with her face slightly scrunched in displeasure. "Is this all of the coven?" Daphne raised an elegant eyebrow in question.

"Two of us are out hunting," Edward's informed with his voice polite as ever, though, his initial reaction hadn't been this calm; he had been outraged just like the rest of the Cullen clan but then the mind-reader had read Carlisle's thoughts and followed the older vampire's lead without any hesitation.

Daphne turned to face Edward, as the vampire answered her, and gave the mind reader an onceover as she noticed his calm demeanor. And just like she had done with Carlisle, she scrutinized and nitpicked, every little thing that was there to be criticized, before her lips twitched just a little in condescension. "Animals I hope."

"Of course." Carlisle countered smoothly while not giving Edward, or any other member of him family for that matter, any time to respond. "Emmett and Rosalie are out in the forest, hunting," And in the same breath he introduced his family; the reaction from whom was lukewarm at best, as it was only Edward who was in on the mind game going in between Carlisle and Daphne, the rest of the vampires weren't.

As a result Edward smiled politely when he was introduced, while Alice and even the ever polite Esme just nodded curtly, showing their clear displeasure at the witch's attitude. And Jasper, affected by the sweet scent as he was, just tried to restrain himself; the poor vampire looked as if constipated.

At the expectant looks she received, when Carlisle finished introducing his coven, Daphne realized something, "Harry didn't bother to introduce me beforehand, did he?" She asked to no one in particular but her back straightened further and her head tilted up a smidgen as the words continued to leave her, "Very well. I am Daphne Irma of House Greengrass." She finished, not bothering to tell anything else about her, as her allegiance to her House was all that mattered to her.

"If you don't mind me asking," Esme addressed the witch as she faked a smile, "How do you know Harry?" The motherly figure of the Cullen coven was having a hard time associating the sweet and charming Harry with the impertinent and prideful witch that was sitting in her drawing room.

"I guided him through the magical world in his initial days," Daphne answered curtly, "But that is not what we are here to discuss. I believe one Alice wants to acquaint herself with our culture?"

The abrupt change in topic, combined with the attitude, caused Alice to frown in disapproval but she faked a smile nonetheless.

Daphne turned her scrutinizing gaze towards the pixie resembling vampire before her lips turned down a dash in disdain; an emotion that hit Jasper hard; the vampire had never came across an individual that disliked his wife after just a glance and that too, this strongly.

The unstable control that the empath had over himself, slipped, and Japer growled as his protective instincts reared their ugly head.

Daphne, meanwhile, frowned a little in confusion before her cold eyes flickered back and forth between Jasper and Alice. Her lips twitched in malevolence as she finally understood the situation, causing Jasper to tense, as he felt the malicious smugness oozing out of the witch.

Alice frowned in worry before her eyes settled on Daphne; the smugness and spite of the witch's small smile told her everything that she needed to know. She scowled before she placed a comforting hand on Jaspers arm and slowly slid it down before enveloping the empath's hand in her tiny ones; calming the vampire significantly.

Daphne's eyes shifted to Alice, "How…" the condescension that witch emanated could not have been more transparent, "…endearing."

"Can we get to business please?" Alice replied as she tried to stop herself from snapping at the witch, "I assume we both have better things to do." Although, her attempt failed, miserably at that.

"Yes that. Business." Daphne answered, unconcerned, before she waved her wand and conjured a few sheets of parchment.

"You need to get used to this," Daphne waved her wand again, passing the conjured parchments to Alice and simultaneously conjuring a sheet of paper. She picked the sheet up and waved it absently, "This flimsy …thing won't be of any …" That was all she managed to say before the wildly waving paper pressed against the tender skin of the witch and slid, giving Daphne a paper cut.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

The sweet enticing scent that had been emanating from the witch magnified an impossible amount, then, and turned overwhelmingly saccharine, enveloping and encapsulating the vampires with its utter magnificence.

Carlisle, the old vampire, was hit by the devastatingly tempting scent of a singer and went absolutely still. He clamped down on the uncontrollable urge that was rising in him, hard and fast, and restrained himself; it was, after all, not his first such encounter.

Struggling with himself, the wizened vampire turned to check on his family and felt vindicated when he saw that none of vampires had given in to their impulse; he felt pride in his family and his way of life; though his vindication was short lived as Jasper broke down and gave in. The Cullen patriarch watched in horrified fascination as Jasper, lost in his frenzy, attacked the witch.

But something that he had not expected happened then as the witch vanished in thin air, as if she had never been there. He turned around, along with the rest of his family, as they searched in confusion for some type of answer. At that moment, the vampires had more important things to remember, like taming their urge to hunt, and thus didn't remember what witches and wizards could or couldn't do.

A pop rang out above them, just like the one before, and the witch materialized on the second floor, with nary a scratch.

Using the distraction for what it was, Carlisle tackled Jasper from the side and tried to bind the empath's arms; the key word here being 'tried'.

The veteran soldier shrugged off the attack like it was nothing and growled menacingly as he turned to face the one disturbing his hunt. Jasper jumped, trying to end the alteration as quickly as possible, and aimed for Carlisle's throat.

Carlisle dodged and feinted left, something which an un-frenzied Jasper would have never fell for, before grabbing Jasper's right arm and twisting it painfully. The empathy grunted in pain but continued his struggles in mindless frenzy.

Jasper's condition broke Alice out of her stupor and, with great resolve, she managed to ignore the sinfully sweet scent of the singer; all the while, she tried to concentrate only and only on Jasper. She ran behind her husband and grabbed his left hand before unbalancing the frenzied vampire with a sharp kick to the back of his knees.

Jasper lost his balance and fell; something both Carlisle and Alice took advantage of and used the momentum to pin him to the ground. Jasper struggled and tried to rampage like a newborn vampire but Edward and Esme joined the fight then and disabled him.

A giggle echoed in the tense atmosphere, unnerving and disturbing; the sound of it innocent and pure, yet, it oozed malice, malevolence and cruelty like death chuckling.

"There can never be anything civil about creatures." The self satisfied and cruel smile that graced the witch's lips told Carlisle everything he needed to know. He realized, at that moment, that this had been her scheme all along.

The woman had wanted them to attack her, to prove that they were nothing but savages that she saw them as. She had been provoking them ever since she set foot in their house for this very reason. And they had snapped; they had fallen in her trap, even after Carlisle suspecting it.

"Say bye-bye now," Daphne addressed the vampires, her voice soft and chiding as she prepared the strongest fire spell she knew to eradicate the very existence of creatures that had dared to attack her; the fact that she had enticed them notwithstanding. "Diabolus Ignis…"

At that moment there was a pop and a stinging hex flew Daphne's way, something which she deftly avoided but the dodge caused her spell to fizzle out as her concentration waned, "No burning blood people Misstresses Daphnes," An eccentric elf appeared out of nowhere, with his big green face twisted in disapproval, "Masters Harry Potter master sir orders Dobby to bring back misses Daphnes if she tried to burn blood people."

"Which misses Daphnes just tried." The elf glanced, briefly, at the hunched vampires, "Yous comes with Dobby now."

With that, the elf appeared near Daphne, and spirited the struggling witch away though, all the while, she cursed and promised vengeance on both, the creature and its owner.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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	10. Arc: The W(B)itch Part 4

"Harry Potter" Speaking

'_Harry Potter'_ Thinking

"_Harry Potter"_Written/Reading

_Harry Potter _Flashback

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**8****th**** February 2005. **

**Harry's Home.**

The resounding pop, and the cursing that followed it, clued Harry in to what must have happened. Another pop followed the first one, signifying Dobby's hasty departure. The eccentric elf, oddly, was smart enough to know that lingering anymore in his master's home would not be good for his health.

Harry sighed and without wasting any more time than he already had, summoned his wand with a flick of his hand and erected one of his more powerful shields, knowing that the lynx animagus would turn her ire on him because Dobby -her prey – was nowhere to be found anywhere anymore.

And rightly enough spells after spells, all ugly and dark, hit his shield before dissolving into nothingness. All the while Harry waited patiently for his best friend to cool down; after all, this was not something unusual for Daphne and him.

"They attacked me!" A quiet hiss echoed in the hall as the intensity of the spells increased and they became innumerable. "That creature lunged at me! To kill me! And you dare sit there as if nothing had happened!"

Harry did not answer and let the witch vent. He did not want to turn her rant into an argument, which was a certainty if he even dared to say one word in reply to her accusations and allegations.

There was another hiss of anger, the sound of it much more animalistic and feline than human, before a blur of darkness sped towards Harry, crossing the silvery sheen of the shield that Harry had erected with nary an effort.

Unfazed by the change of tactics, Harry threw his hands towards the blur and caught it before it could hit him. He then shook it wildly in his clutches to set if off balance. The blur turned out to be the black furred winged Lynx, which was thrashing and hissing violently while being held by the nape of its neck in Harry's hands.

Ignoring the scratches and gashes that Daphne was giving him as she thrashed about in his grip, Harry twirled his wand and conjured a specific plant, or better to say a drug; he conjured a catnip and chucked it directly in the face of hissing and growling winged Lynx.

The witch, as if sensing Harry's intentions, tried to avoid the plant as she floundered and squirmed but a sniff was all it took before the flailing creature in his hands went limp and started to purr like a content kitten. Harry just rolled his eyes.

Daphne was such a feline.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Later That Night.**

A miffed and irritated Daphne melted back into her human form as her mind cleared from the catnip induced haze. And the first thing she did after waking up was to set her friend with a particularly nasty glare. "Was that really necessary?"

"Drugging you? Not particularly, no." Harry answered absently as he continued to look over the paperwork for the zoo, "But with Teddy in the house I could not risk your tantrum getting out of hand."

Daphne's expression softened at that and glare turned into an indignant huff. It was not the first time when Harry had drugged her to calm her down and neither would it be the last. "Speaking of him," She raised a perfect eyebrow, "Where is he?"

"Sleeping. It's way past his bedtime." He answered casually before waving his wand to wrap up all the parchments and papers strewn in front of him. Finally, he turned to face his friend. "How did the visit go?"

Daphne lifted her hand, gracefully as ever, and began inspecting her nails; showcasing the perfect image of calmness and serenity. "Not quite like I had expected." She admitted carelessly.

Harry fought back a smile. Daphne was embarrassed, he realized but he knew that she'd rather die than showcase her embarrassment. Daphne was, after all, an incredibly prideful witch; no matter however misplaced her pride might or might not have been.

"Oh?" Harry prompted innocently, "How many of them attacked you in their Singer Induced Mindlessness?"

Daphne tilted her chin up and summed up all her condescension in one statement, "One attack was all the proof I needed of their mindlessness."

Harry smiled at that; twisting things to serve her goal was such a Daphne thing to say. "Out of all of them, only one attacked?" He questioned before his smile turned mischievous, "You are losing your touch Daphne."

Daphne glared at him, "They did keep their cool rather unexpectedly." She huffed. "It was more than I would have ever expected out of a _creature_."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Everyone managed to surpass your expectations Daphne; whether it had been Hagrid or Lupin." He replied carelessly. "You have very low expectations from them."

"Only the ones that you meet surprise me." She said with disgust marring her beautiful features. "The rest are just what I expect them to be. Mindless monsters."

Harry ignored the disgust and condescension lacing Daphne's voice; he was not going to change the pureblood witch's mind about creatures anytime soon and he knew that. "Anyway, about Cullens," He changed the topic, "will you meet them tomorrow? Properly this time." He gave his best friend a look and then added, "Without any mind games."

Daphne stared back coolly and matched Harry's look with one of her own before huffing. "Fine. No mind games."

Harry smiled at her charmingly before hitting the women with an ugly red hex. "You have 10 seconds to cancel your curse on me before mine activates." He told the witch. "Remove it." He had no intention of being hit in the nuts, _twice, _daily for who knew how long.

Daphne raised an elegant eyebrow before gracefully twirling her wand to examine Harry's curse, "The curse of the thousand cuts?" She looked at Harry with pride in her eyes. "I was wondering when you would retaliate." She said with one of her true smiles etching her features, "But don't you worry, you wouldn't have been reminded of me anyway."

She waved her wand again and cancelled the hex that Harry had put on her and stood up. "Oh something you should probably know," She turned to face her friend and gave him her best no-nonsense look, "I am staying."

Harry glared at the Lynx animagus; she had been bluffing about the nightly visitor all this time and he had fallen for it, he had fallen for it hard. He glared at his friend some more who, incidentally, just ignored his glare before sighing. At least it wouldn't be lonely around his home anymore.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Next Day. **

**9****th**** February 2005.**

The morning of 9th February, in the Potter household, was anything but quiet. Not that the other mornings, on any other particular day, were quiet but this morning deserved a special mention. Why? Because it was the first morning after Daphne decided that her visit to the colonies was going to be extended. Indefinitely.

Along with the usual hustle bustle of life that was the part of Potter household –that included mewing, hissing and fighting mountain lion cubs, a lazy Teddy and an equally haggard Harry- the morning of 9th Februarys also included the esoteric and eccentric character of one Daphne Greengrass.

The blonde woman had -with swift application of expansion charms, conjuration and transfiguration- created a room for herself in Harry's home; a room that should have realistically tipped the house off of its centre of gravity but when magic was concerned, those silly things usually failed to matter.

And that is how the current scenario in Potter household had come to be. Where a confused –and late to school- Teddy was being chased around by a cute-struck Daphne, who was, in turn, being chased around by 3 yowling and mewing mountain lion cubs and where a sweat-dropping Harry was just awestruck by the chaos in his house.

"-kyyaaaa sooo cuuuuteee!"

"-lemmeee goooo! You craaaazy witch! Lemmeee gooooo!"

"Meeoww! Owwoww Meeeoww!

"-kyyaaaa!"

"Daaaaa! Heeeeellllpppp!Daaaaa!"

"Meeoww! Owwoww Meeeoww!

"-uteeee! Soo cuuute!"

"Noooo! Lemmeee goooo!"

"Meeooowwww!"

Shaking himself out of the stupor of silliness, Harry decided to call Carlisle and explain … well Daphne because Daphne was definitely someone that needed to be explained.

He didn't have to wait long for Carlisle to pick up the phone, the ancient vampire answered on the second ring. "Hello. Carlisle?"

"Harry?" The vampire sounded surprised by the call before his voice turned apologetic, "I apologize for yesterday. I can't apolo-"

"Carlisle." Harry cut off the apologizing vampire, "Yesterday was a very good day."

"-gize enough for yeste…" A pause. "…What?" The confusion in Carlisle's voice could not have been shaper.

"Yes." Harry answered a little sheepishly. "Daphne is …special. That is actually the best way to explain her. And yesterday was her way of judging your family."

There was another pause.

"Are you saying that yesterday was a test of some sort?" The incredulity rolling off of Carlisle's voice might as well have been an unending wave; it seemed to go on and on. "And that we passed it; even after Jasper attacked Daphne?"

"Essentially, yes."

"I need more explanation." Carlisle replied tersely.

"There is always one needed whenever Daphne is involved." Harry murmured with a sigh but began the explanation nonetheless. "Daphne is pureblood witch and she has …certain beliefs and notions about the world and those living in it."

"She doesn't like us." Carlisle's reply was clipped. "That I could tell the moment I saw her."

"Yesterday was all an act on Daphne's part; don't believe anything that happened at your place."

"So Daphne doesn't hate us?" Carlisle asked with confusion lacing his voice.

"Oh no, that's not it. She doesn't like your family at all." Harry replied with a wince, "But it has more to do with your family being vampires –a race that she considers as monsters- than you all personally."

"I see." Carlisle was not happy with that answer, not one bit.

Harry winced. "Daphne has… opinions about non-human races that are …not very flattering."

"From what you have told me," Carlisle answered with disapproval lacing his voice, "that's putting it mildly."

"It is, yes." Harry agreed, "But that is just who Daphne is. She insists on her tests before she deems…" he hesitated as he tried to find a better way to explain Daphne, "…nonhuman races …civil."

There was yet another pause.

"I see."

Harry winced. Again. "I understand that this is deeply offensive-"

"It is." Carlisle cut in; something deeply out of character for the passive man but treating his family as a group of mindless monsters was not something that he could turn a blind eye to.

"-Oh." Harry paused at the deep disapproval in Carlisle's voice. "I apologize for her behavior." _Gods know, she won't._ "I hope we can meet and resolve this."

Silence was the only answer Harry got.

"She is the only person that I can ask for help in this scenario." Harry tried to explain again, "And she will keep our secrets."

A pause.

"You said that yesterday was an act." Carlisle finally replied, "Then let us meet the real Daphne before we decide anything."

Harry smiled. "Thank you Carlisle. I'll meet you tonight then, around 11 pm, if you don't mind."

"See you then Harry." And with that Carlisle hung up while Harry let out a breath that he didn't knew he was holding.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Later That Day.**

**Harry's Diner.**

Separating Teddy, Daphne and the three cubs, from the pile of limbs and flesh that they had become, had been a monumental task and something that had taken a lot of effort on Harry's part, because, neither had Daphne nor had the Cubs wanted to leave the object of their affection alone.

It had taken threats, coercion, manipulation and bribes to separate all the beings into their respective individuals.

In the end, though, all of it had been in vain as Teddy had been terribly late for school, which had left the boy incredibly grouchy. Still, Harry had somehow managed to mollify the boy enough to send him to school, though the metamorphmagus had continued to grumble about it until he had finally the house left with his bike.

Handling Daphne, on the other hand, had been easy after that. One careful look of disappointment had left the witch looking sheepish. She had then promptly transformed into her magical animagus form and had left for her room with the cubs following her like little ducklings.

It had been an amusing sight.

Still, all this chaos did not mean that Harry could neglect his routine or his diner, not after what had happened last time. But it still left him with the problem of what to do with Daphne. He could, obviously, not leave Daphne alone in his house; there wouldn't be anything left of it if he –foolishly- dared to do that.

That problem solved itself, easily enough, when he voiced it to the source of the problem, the witch herself.

_Daphne melted into her human form as soon as Harry finished explaining his dilemma to her. Gracefully as ever, she crouched down to the level of cubs and began playing with the little fur-balls. "That's not a problem at all," she answered carelessly, "I'll simply come with you."_

_Both of Harry's eyebrows were raised so high in surprise that they were almost lost in his hairline. "You. Daphne Greengrass." Harry stated, dumbfounded, "Willingly want to spent time around muggles?"_

_Daphne scrunched her nose in displeasure, as if she smelled something disgusting. "Yes." She answered tersely, "I suppose I do."_

_Harry continued to stare at her in surprise. This was not the Daphne he knew. The Daphne that he knew would rather kill the muggles and have her afternoon tea surrounded by their mutilated corpses than willingly spent time interacting with them._

"_Wait, wait, wait." Harry help up his hands as he tried to wrap his mind around the massive change in Daphne that he was observing, "Even if I allow you in my diner, you would tear into my customers and leave them a blubbering mess. And even if you somehow did not do that, I do not want rumors about my supposed girlfriend resurfacing."_

_Daphne tilted her chin up with utter disgust etched onto her features. "If you think, for a second, that I will allow those muggles to interact with me, then you are more of a fool that I had previously thought."_

_Harry sighed, satisfied. This was the Daphne he knew and loved. _

_He realized something at that moment and a slow smile morphed onto his face. He raised an eyebrow in question, "And pray tell," He asked, "How will you stop the locals from approaching an unknown, beautiful and apparently single lady sitting alone in a diner?"_

_The absolute horror that morphed onto Daphne's features at the thought of muggle men hitting on her was extremely pleasing for was utterly hilarious and he broke down laughing. _

_Daphne's features contorted in rage. "I'll break their bones and feed them their rotting flesh if they even dare to hit on me." She hissed. Touchy, he grinned._

"_Yes, yes." Harry rolled his eyes with a grin plastered on his features. "You'd rather torture them and have tea party with their mutilated corpses than have a pleasant chat with muggles. I know." Sarcasm rolled down Harry's tongue like butter. "But that still doesn't explain how will you stop their advances?"_

_Daphne sent Harry an irritated look. "Wipe that grin off your facebefore I wipe it off for you." Those words feel on deaf ears though as Harry continued to give Daphne his best impression of the Cheshire Cat. _

_The witch, in question, ignored him and continued to contemplate for a few moments before her features relaxed into a smile._

"_I'll go as a cat then." She gave Harry a small smirk. "You can do whatever it is that you do there while I flay anything that dares to come near me."_

_Harry rolled his eyes. "That's acceptable. I'll transfigure you to look more like a normal cat than a wild lynx."_

"_Umm hmm." Daphne hummed in disinterest as she went back to playing with the feline cubs. _

_Harry just sighed._

And that is how the current situation came to be where an irritable black cat was resting on the counter, alongside Harry, with a big sign alongside her which read **DO NOT TOUCH**_, _in all caps and in bold_._

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Daphne.**

She sat, regally, on the counter of her Harry's diner, preening as she cleaned her paws. One needs to groom their perfectly immaculate and beautiful fur; it wasn't something that just happened on its own after all.

She glanced around the diner and her eyes fell on a particularly dumb specimen of _muggle breed_.

The _thing _had tried to touch her, even after reading the sign that _her_ _Harry_ had so helpfully placed besides her, specifically so that dumb specimens, like _that thing,_ didn't try to do what _that_ _thing_ had tried to do and though _that thing_ failed spectacularly. As if she would let a muggle, _a muggle_, touch her.

The very idea was laughable. And ludicrous.

It was only her Harry's timely intervention that had left _that thing_ with its eyes intact; Daphne had already pounced, with her sharp claws out and waiting, when her Harry had grabbed her by the nape of her before depositing her on the other side of the counter. He had chastised _that thing_ after of course; how dare it try to touch her.

She scrunched her face in disgust. The diner was filled to the brim with the scent of sweat, labor, dirt and other things muggle. She sniffed. It was only the predatory yet soothing scent of her Harry that allowed her to remain calm in the mangled mess of odors.

She licked her paw one last time before relaxing and closing her eyes as she drank in the warm and comforting scent of her Harry; it finally felt like home.

She flicked her tail aimlessly before frowning slowly. She did not understand why her Harry had chosen to interact with these _things_; these fat, stupid and clammy lumps of wasted flesh. She knew thousands of places better than this muggle and creature infested corner of the colonies to raise Teddy.

She sighed. It was not like she could change her Harry's decision; Gods knew she had tried. She suspected that it might very well have the reason why Harry had left without telling her or saying something about it beforehand.

It had been very unlike him to not tell her about his actions. Though, she guessed, he might have done it if he had thought that she wouldn't support him. Which was ridiculous, of course. Daphne would always and always support her Harry.

The door opened then and she mentally sneered. _'What was with these muggles? Harry's was not the only diner in this backward town. Couldn't they go to someplace else?'_

She ignored the newcomer but Teddy's warm and delicious scent hit her then and she slowly peeled her eyes open. Teddy. Her beautiful, perfect and cute little Teddy. Oh how she had missed him; the stumbling and bumbling toddler that had captured her heart with his big, ever changing eyes and happy smile.

Oh how her heart had ached for the child. She smiled and once again felt vindicated about kicking Harry in the nuts. Ah, that had been satisfying. So so satisfying. She had finally rendered on the idiot, _her idiot_, a portion of pain that she had felt when both Harry and Teddy had vanished from her life all of a sudden.

She sighed and shook her head to clear it of the melancholy as she sat up and stretched herself, feeling her bones move and pop. She yawned and licked her lips lazily before moving over to the edge of the counter.

Then she jumped.

And landed spectacularly on Teddy's tiny chest. She smiled. Her cute little Teddy. The perfection made imperfect by that useless sire of his, the werewolf.

Daphne felt Teddy stumble for a few moments as he tried to grab hold of her before regaining his balance. She smiled with pride. Her perfect little Teddy could recover even from a sudden onslaught; now that is what she called balance.

She dug her claws into the child's clothes and pushed herself up as she climbed up little Teddy tiny chest before making herself comfortable on Teddy's small shoulders.

She felt the child fumble for a few moments, not being used to the sudden weight would do that to anyone. But to her pride and joy, he recovered quickly and began petting her with a smile. "Who's this Da?" She could hear the smile in the child's voice.

Harry looked up from the register and noticed Teddy for the first time. He smiled at his son. "Hullo Teddy. Say hi to Daphne."

The child stilled for a moment before looking shiftily at the cat lounging on his shoulders.

Daphne laughed, internally of course, at the child's delicious reaction. _'Such a sweet little child.' _She licked the boy's cheek, to ease him a little. She smiled happily. He tasted like grass, mud, pine and finally predator. _'Children. Roughhousing in mud all day.' _She summed.

After a few comforting licks to the cheek, she felt Teddy ease a little as he began to pet her purr. "Soo sooft." The child whispered with adoration and wonder filled voice and she preened. Of course her fur was soft; it couldn't be anything else.

Teddy smiled and came closer to his Da to give him a hug. Harry smiled at Teddy and scratched Daphne behind the ears, causing her to go limp and melt like goo. Harry laughed softly before turning back to his register. "Take care of him, alright."

Daphne slowly peeled open a single eye of hers and gave Harry look that questioned his intelligence. _'Take care of him. Huh. As if that needed to be said.'_

Teddy rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen. He placed his bag into the cupboard there and tied a small apron around himself. He came out with a big smile plastered on his face and began to help Cindy, the lackadaisical waitress, with Daphne still perched on his shoulders. Teddy loved helping around the diner.

Daphne could not watch as her perfect little Teddy mingled with the riff raff and _served them. _She closed her eyes in displeasure and took in a deep breath, soaking in the warm and inviting scent of her Teddy. A hole in her chest seemed to fill itself up with the scent of her perfect little imperfection. She sighed, content.

Teddy moved around and tried to help but had trouble balancing both food and Daphne. The child sighed before going back to the counter and carefully depositing Daphne back with his Da.

Daphne let out a sad wail, which came out a small meow causing Teddy to hesitate for moment. The child sighed and scratched Daphne behind the ears before going back to helping around the diner.

The door opened again and a musky scent hit Daphne this time. She sat up straight with her ears perked up. The scent smelled of hormones, mud, sea and slightly, very slightly, of predator.

"Hiya Harry!" The newcomer called with way too much enthusiasm in his voice. Her Harry looked up and briefly, very briefly, exasperation morphed onto his features. But it passed as soon as it had come and her Harry's features morphed into a smile. There was a story here. She just knew.

"Seth." Her Harry greeted with a smile. "What are doing at this time? You lot don't come over to roughhouse in my diner till later."

"We don't roughhouse in your diner." The teenager replied, affronted, but Harry just gave him a look.

"Okay maybe a little." The boy grinned.

"Ha," Harry grinned mockingly, "You didn't even last for a few seconds!"

The teenager, apparently named Seth, just grinned back before mumbling under his breath, "With eyes like that, who would."

Though she wasn't meant to, she heard it loud and clear and the way in which Harry's smile faltered just a tad bit, she knew he had heard it as well. _'Well, well, well. What do we have here? A teenage crush.'_

"So what do you need?" Harry asked quickly. Way too quickly. She grinned maniacally before turning to face Harry. She knew he noticed her intentions when her Harry's smile faltered once again. She smirked and sent out a leglimency probe. _'Cradle robber? Since when?'_

Irritation morphed onto Harry's featured before he expertly hid it. _'Oh shut it.'_ He snappishly projected onto her probe but Daphne couldn't resist and cackled on the inside. _'Oh this is good. So very good.' _She continued to cackle, imagining all the ways she could tease the man.

"Oh yeah," The teenage answered Harry's previous question, "Mom didn't want to cook today so she asked me get our regular orders. For the go."

"Of course."Harry faked a smile. "Coming right up."

There was silence for a few moments but with his crush present, Daphne knew the teenager would speak up sooner rather than later. She wasn't disappointed. "So what have you been up to Harry? Anything new?"

"Same old. Same old."Harry didn't look up from the register. "Nothing new happens in this town. You should know that. You lot complain about it half the time you are here." She knew Harry so she saw his faked nonchalance. She also knew that the wizard was faking nonchalance so that the teen would take a hint. But when have teens ever taken a hint?

"Yeah. I know." The teen agreed. "But did you hear? Bella Swan, the chief's daughter you know, she almost got hit by a sliding car. She was lucky that the Cullen boy was there to pull her out of the way."

Harry, apparently, did not know that as he looked up from his register with an arched eyebrow, "Really?"

"Oh yeah." The teen answered excitedly; happy that his crush was finally paying him attention. "It was big deal and all. Paramedics and everything. She was rushed to the hospital too." The teen then raised an eyebrow in question, "How did you not hear about it? It was all over the town."

"How indeed." Harry seemed to be in agreement with that question.

_Ting._

Apparently the teen's order was done. And from the way relief flooded Harry's features, Harry couldn't have been happier about it. He wrapped it up quickly and handed it over to the teen while collecting the money. Seth, meanwhile, took that moment to graze his fingers across Harry's hands before blushing furiously.

Daphne cackled once again. _'Oh this is gold.'_

Harry looked annoyed, but more at Daphne than at the teen. She knew, that he knew, what was waiting for him later.

"Th-Thanks." Seth stammered from behind his blush before rushing off.

Harry looked at her with his eyes narrowed. "Not. A. Single. Word." He whispered furiously.

Daphne laughed manically and let him threaten whatever he wanted to. She made no promises.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**A/N: **I hope that this chapter gives some insight into the working of Daphne's mind and why she did what she did. If it still isn't clear then I hope the next chapter would clear it up when Daphne explains herself to the Cullens.

Still, the way I have sketched Daphne, she isn't meant to be likable but that doesn't mean that she should look unreasonable, thus this A/N.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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	11. Arc: The W(B)itch Part 5

"Harry Potter" Speaking

'_Harry Potter'_ Thinking

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**9****th**** February 2005.**

**Later That Night.**

Twin pops echoed softly in the darkness, breaking the overbearing silence encompassing the Cullen home; which was soon followed by the soft _ba-dump ba-dump_ of twin beating human hearts.

Carlisle turned to face his family with a small reassuring smile, and nodded. He wanted them on their best behavior but, he knew, it was a vain wish. None of his family members had been pleased by the news of the _test_; least of them all, Alice and Rosalie.

Alice because she knew that _this test _had caused Jasper to slip up, and even though no loss of life had occurred, a slip up was a slip up. She knew that and Jasper knew that; thus, it was no surprise that Jasper had been, since then, beating himself over it.

And Rosalie, well, was Rosalie; more than a little self centered and just as selfish.

She did not like anyone messing with her or her life. And this witch, _this Daphne_, had managed to mess with her life by putting a setback on all the progress that Jasper had made. Now they would have to be more careful than ever and there was a much higher chance of Jasper slipping up because of his low confidence.

Not only that, Rosalie had no doubt that Emmett and she would have slipped up too, if they hadn't been conveniently absent. The scent lingering in her home, when she had returned from her hunt, had assured her of that. The only things that had stopped her from hunting the witch down had been the lack of a trail and that that she had recently fed.

She scowled; the wizened vampire's reassuring smile affecting her not even a tinge.

Carlisle sighed and opened the doors to greet his guests. With a forced smile, he took a tentative breath and frowned before quickly schooling his features; the witch's scent wasn't the same as last time. He had warned, and prepared, his family for the inevitability that Daphne had an extremely tantalizing scent that was hard to resist but now that seemed to be false.

Sure Daphne's scent felt the same as before but, for some reason, it didn't overwhelm his senses like it had the last time; it didn't engulf him with its devastating deliciousness. Carlisle kept his features schooled; there would be time for his questions; thus, he ignored his feelings on the matter and guided his guests to the living room. They all took their seats with the atmosphere as tense as a stretched rubber band; ready to snap at a moments notice.

A soft sigh escaped Harry's lips, as if in defeat, before the wizard in question turned to glance at the witch from the corner of his eyes. "You have still got it."

The witch, however, just raised an eyebrow of hers, ever so slightly, in reply; though, Carlisle felt the definite smirk hidden in the impassive expression. She turned back then, to face her hosts, before giving them all a slight onceover.

"I don't like you all." She announced dismissively, earning a scowl from most of Cullens present. "Or trust for that matter."

"Don't flatter yourself, _girl_." Rosalie sneered. "We don't like you either."

Daphne gave the blonde vampire a small innocent smile, a smile that had maliciousness hidden underneath it. "And thanks to that little outburst," The condescension in her soft voice could not have been more transparent, "I feel assured that the feeling is mutual."

Rosalie's sneer of distaste turned into an impassioned glare at the implied insult. She did not like Daphne, at all; though, at this point, it wasn't like any of the Cullens did.

Ignoring the heated glare, as if it was nothing, Daphne folded her hands –elegantly- on her knees. "And although I dislike explaining myself, _particularly to …,_" She paused, and pursed her lips in distaste, "Harry insists I do."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow as Harry, who had been sitting besides the witch, sighed and waved his wand before hitting the witch with a spell of some sort causing her heartbeat to pace and, judging from the sudden change in her scent, a shot of adrenaline to be released in her system.

The witch ignored the spell.

"There's a place in Muggle China, I have been told." Daphne began impassively and Carlisle frowned at the sudden change of topic before he saw Harry roll his eyes. The wizard knew where Daphne was going with this. "Where muggles and beasts, tigers if I am not wrong, live together. It's even open to tourists."

She turned then and looked each of the vampires present in the eye. "Muggles happily visit that place and get there pictures clicked with the beasts. Some even dare to touch them." A pause. "But does that mean those muggles, those tourists, wish to live there? With those dangerous beasts?"

Realization dawned on Carlisle and he held back a frown.

"Your…" Daphne paused momentarily and glanced at Harry before amending whatever it was that she was going to say, "…_family_ is those tigers in this case. Or better to say beast." Daphne continued on impassively before leaking a calculated amount of worry in her tone; Carlisle could tell. "Only more dangerous, because unlike those beasts, we don't have assurance of your tameness."

"We are not some mindless beasts." Alice finally snapped. "We were human once. Thinking, breathing humans. Just like you."

"No." Daphne raised an elegant finger in defiance. "None of you were ever like us." She contradicted immediately. "And the capability of your minds is a minor detail when blood is involved. Thirst and bloodlust are the driving force of your race, not your minds."

Carlisle felt, rather than observing himself, scowls materialize on the faces of each and every member of his family. Even Harry scowled as the witch continued to talk before hitting her with another one of his spells; which the witch shrugged off again.

Esme, on the other hand, tried to stop her features from showcasing her disapproval, but failed, and a scowl etched itself on her face. She wanted to contradict the witch, she really did. But after yesterday, she couldn't. Instead, she took the route of reassurance. "We wouldn't attack Harry or little Teddy."

The witch turned to face the vampire matriarch with that innocent smile of hers. "And what proof of that did I have till yesterday?" She asked. "Was I supposed to believe in the goodness of your cold dead hearts?"

Esme did not have an answer for that and neither did the rest of her family.

"But I digress." Daphne's lips twitched in approval. "Yesterday's test was me trying to be cautious; trying to keep my family safe." She turned to face the head of Cullen Clan. "Carlisle, was it?" She leaned in, just a tad, inviting. "Tell me. Will you not do anything to keep your family safe? Will you not cross any line to keep them away from harm?"

Carlisle held back the desire to purse his lips, yet his features morphed into disapproval. This witch was smart, incredibly so. She had, marvelously, made herself out to be in the right. And with her questions, directed at him, she gave him two choices; both of which favored her.

If he disagreed with her, he would seemingly portray himself as someone to whom family wasn't important, thus turning his insistence, that the Cullens were a family, a lie; which would question their trustworthiness.

On the other hand, if he agreed, he would, by design, endorse her actions and their grievance with the witch would seem hypocritical and petty.

The old vampire pursed his lips. "Our objections are not with you trying to keep your family safe, Daphne. It's with your insistence that we are mindless beast." He would not play by this witch's rules.

Daphne raised an impassive eyebrow, masterfully biting back a smirk. "You do not expect me to believe that merely based on your word, do you?" She glanced briefly at the other Cullens and addressed them, "Would you all treat another monster race, say shifters, just as another human, just as another vampire? Would you not be distrustful of them?"

Carlisle didn't answer, not because he did not want to, but because he couldn't. After all, his family treated other members of their race with the same distrust; they even treated the shifters of Quillette tribe similarly.

Alice frowned; she couldn't fault the witch's line of reasoning, but after the state Jasper had been left due to the witch's stunt, she could. "That still doesn't excuse yesterday's behavior." She protested.

"For that, Harry insists that I apologize." She answered with distaste rolling off of her tongue. "But I refuse to apologize for trying to keep my family safe."

Harry sighed, in defeat and in exasperation. "Just come to the point Daphne."

"Indeed." The witch agreed. "Yesterday's events assured me of 4 of your members, that they aren't, in fact, mindless beats." She briefly glanced at the Esme, Carlisle, Edward and Alice before finally turning to Jasper, "And that you can control the one that is."

Jasper stiffened and Alice growled in anger. "My husband is not some mindless creature that you can insult."

Daphne stared at the pixie-esque vampire, who matched the stare with an equal and righteous fervor, before nodding. The vampire had, after all, withstood the curse for a few moments before he had given in. That alone was commendable. "Indeed." Daphne didn't apologize. "He needs to better control himself."

Alice, who had been expecting a rebuttal and had been ready with a fuming retort, blinked in surprise. She had not expected an agreement from the witch who offended them with every word that left her mouth.

Mollified, she nodded back; she could live with that. After all, it was nothing that wasn't true; Jasper, indeed, needed to work on his control.

Raising an eyebrow, Daphne turned to face Rosalie and Emmett. "That only leaves two mem-"

"No." Carlisle cut in; his face determined. "You will not put my family through that degrading experience."

Daphne pursed her lips and matched Carlisle's determined and righteous stare with an impassioned one of her own; neither of them willing to give in. For one, it was a matter of dignity and what their essence was; what they stood for. For the other, it was the matter of safety of her family, of her Harry and her little Teddy.

"Enough." Harry finally intervened as he placed a hand on Daphne's shoulders and reeled her in. "4 of them withstood the curse Daphne." He whispered softly, "I think that says something for all of them."

Daphne turned to fix Harry with her unyielding stare, anger and frustration bubbling beneath the surface. Harry, unafraid, matched her with a compassionate one his own.

Daphne nodded and turned back to face Carlisle. "I shall trust Harry's judgment for the moment. But you should, perhaps, know something." She turned towards the three she distrusted the most and gave her most malicious smile, the one that promised suffering from the hands of their sadistic tormentor. "You have had the misfortune of meeting two of the most powerful magicals of current time."

Rosalie sneered, having heard what was left unsaid. "Is that a threat?"

Daphne reeled her maliciousness in, its purpose achieved. Her aim had been to warn and unsettle the vampires and to do that, she just had to give a glimpse of what lurked beneath her skin before settling back on one of her innumerable masks.

Thus she turned to face Rosalie and gave the blonde vampire her most innocent smile. "Don't let it be."

Harry shook his head in exasperation and turned to the psychic vampire. "Lessons begin at 11 PM, tomorrow, my diner. Be there."

With that he took Daphne's hand in his own and apparated away.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**10****th**** February 2005.**

Alice arrived at the diner, on 11P PM sharp and frowned; the lights were out. It didn't seem as if anyone was in there.

"Come to the back door Alice." A voice from behind the door whispered. "We don't want the good people of Forks to see you, now do we?" Alice immediately recognized the voice; it was Harry.

She rolled her eyes at the cloak and dagger stuff; the good people of Forks indeed. They were the reason that she had to come here running through the forest rather than her car.

Arriving at the backdoor, she was met with a smiling Harry. "Come in."

The vampire walked in and was surprised at the sight that met her. The entire diner was set up as normal, there were lights and everything. Yet, one moment ago, when she had been out the door, all she had seen was darkness.

She stared wide eyed and turned to Harry with a questioning look. The wizard, though, just smiled mysteriously. "Magic." He whispered and Alice pouted. A 5 year old could have guessed that.

"It's nothing impressive, my dear." Another voice answered her unasked question; a feminine one. Alice tensed; waiting for the witch to say something that would piss her off. "Just a visual illusion."

Alice almost frowned but controlled her features just in time. That was almost nice of her. Why was she being nice all of a sudden? Did Harry put her up to it? Alice eyed her shiftily before turning to face Harry.

The wizard just sighed. "Most of the unpleasantness is over from Daphne's side; especially for you because you passed her test."

Alice frowned but nodded. The witch in question rose from her booth and walked up to her before coming to halt a safe distance away from her. Alice noticed, for the minute moment that it did, when Daphne eyes flickered to Harry before coming back to her.

"You have a family." Daphne's soft voice reached her and Alice was almost surprised at the lack of condescension. "So you might know what it is like to worry for your family, when they intentionally throw themselves in what you perceive to be a dangerous situation."

Alice did not reply and waited for the witch to continue; which the witch did. "I am in the same situation. So while I do not expect your …_acceptance_, I do expect your understanding for what I did. For I expect you would have done the same for your family." The witch's gaze turned expectant, "Am I wrong?"

Alice didn't answer, instead, she mulled over the witch's words. Did she understand what the witch had done? And why she had done it? Alice did not know. She understood trying to protect your family. And she also understood going to great lengths to protect them. But will she kill another to protect her family? Like the witch had tried?

That wasn't even a question. Alice most definitely would; especially if the danger was another vampire.

What had the witch asked Carlisle when she had come to their home?

"_Will you not do anything to keep your family safe? Will you not cross any line to keep them away from harm?"_

Alice would; she most certainly would. Did that mean what the witch had done was correct? No. It most definitely was not. It had left quiet a mark on Jasper and that was reprehensible.

But was it really? If she had been in Daphne's position, would she have cared for the supposed danger while her family risked themselves?

No she wouldn't have and neither had Daphne.

Alice stared back at the witch, unflinchingly. She did not like what the witch had done. She did not accept it either. But she did understand. Family was Family. Nothing else mattered more. So Alice nodded in answer.

A small smile morphed on Daphne's features. "We might just get along."

Alice doubted that. "We'll see."

Witch ignored her doubt as if it was inconsequential. "Harry tells me you are the designer. May I see your work?"

Alice nodded and pulled out her booklet from her backpack. "These are some of the designs I have come up since Harry told me that fashion of magical was still stuck in later periods."

Daphne frowned mildly before smiling a fake smile. "We are not stuck anywhere my dear. We are just where we should be. We are not muggles."

Alice felt like she had come upon a touchy subject but she couldn't tell what it was. "Right." She handed her booklet to the witch.

Daphne took the booklet and began to go through the designs before giving Alice a truly sweet smile. "This might not be a complete failure after all."

Alice smiled back as she began explaining her designs and her inspirations for them. They talked about her designs and which period they belonged to or which designs were famous in which part of Europe. Alice was pleasantly surprised that Daphne kept up with her, with small inputs here and there. The witch even gave some pointers to improve them.

They were discussing a particular tricky one when Daphne waved her hand and summoned her wand; instantly setting Alice on edge. She did not trust the witch.

As if reading her mind, the witch asked permission to cast her spell, "May I?"

That was way too courteous for a witch that considered her nothing more than a creature. Thus Alice, not trusting the witch, turned to Harry who was going over some papers in another booth. As if the wizard felt her eyes on him, he looked up and analyzed the situation. Understanding what Alice was asking, he nodded.

Alice turned back to Daphne, who was still waiting patiently with her wand raised and nodded.

The witch gave her a smile and twirled her wand, conjuring a dress with the specific changes that she was talking about. Alice's eyes lightened up in glee. She could immediately see what here designs would look like! Of course she could! It was magic!

Almost laughing with glee, Alice hopped up and began excitedly directing the changes she wanted made in the dress; which Daphne obliged gracefully.

And just like that the rest of the meeting passed.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Alice arrived home to a tense environment; everybody was unnaturally still, waiting impatiently for her return.

Jasper ran to her the moment she walked in and enveloped her in a hug. "….You are not angry." He muttered in surprise. "Or disappointed." He frowned. "You are …happy?"

Even though she was not an empath, Alice could feel his confusion and the confusion of rest of her family and laughed. They expected her to arrive muttering to herself in anger and frustration. Well, she understood their reasoning.

"Yes I am happy." She nodded with a smile. "It went surprisingly well."

"Really?" Esme's voice was filled with genuine disbelief. "That witch didn't try to start anything? Nothing?"

"I know." Alice agreed with her and her disbelief. "I didn't believe it either but she was …pleasant."

"Pleasant?" Rosalie scowled. "How could that harpy ever be pleasant?"

"I don't know Rosalie." Alice answered with genuine confusion. "Either today was all an act or her previous visits were."

Rosalie smirked, satisfied. "You don't have to tell me which one was which."

Now, normally, this would be the moment that they would turn to Edward for answers but the vampire didn't have any this time as he couldn't read any of the magical's minds. It frustrated him to no end.

"I don't know Rosalie." Carlisle interrupted, "If I were to guess, I'd say all we have seen of her, till now, has been nothing but acts."

"Oh." Alice let out a disappointed sigh; she had been hoping that the Daphne that she had met today was the true Daphne.

"She doesn't trust us and feels threatened for her family." The wizened vampire answered. "Thus her initial 'shock and awe' approach; it was an intimidation tactic. But when that didn't work, she resorted to emotional side of things; the family angle. And now you are telling me that she was amicable."

Alice nodded in confirmation; Daphne had been nothing but courteous.

"My guess is that she still doesn't trust us but is now going for the tactic, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'. This way she can keep an eye on things directly."

"That makes sense." Edward nodded to the theory. "She is way too prejudiced to let it go just because of one _test._"

Alice sighed. She had had a great time today.

Finally, she had met someone that could keep up with her when she talked of fashion and was just as interested in it as she was. But alas, all that was nothing but an act. _'How long could the witch keep up her act?' _Alice frowned before a mischievous smile crossed her face. '_And how far I can push her before she finally breaks.'_ Alice giggled.

Oh she was going to have so much fun messing with the witch!

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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End file.
